dorsal
adjective
Simple meaning
About the top surface of the foot or hand.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dawrsuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈdɔɹsəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
anatomy
Relating to the top surface of the foot or hand.
anatomyzootomy
With respect to, or concerning the side in which the backbone is located, or the analogous side of an invertebrate.
of a knife
Having only one sharp side.
linguisticsof a sound
Produced using the dorsum of the tongue.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Varies by meaning
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Relating to the top surface of the foot or hand.
Used this way, dorsal is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a clinical use: it belongs to medical description, where it is factual rather than emotive.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Medicine/healthcare
- Science
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use dorsal
- “The dorsal fin is the vertical fin on the back of a fish and certain marine mammals.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Vein that is a tributary of the subclavian vein or external jugular vein and accompanies the descending scapular artery.
One of 12 vertebrae in the human vertebral column.
One of two roots of a spinal nerve that passes dorsally from the spinal cord and that consists of sensory fibers.
Unpaired median fin on the backs of fishes and some other aquatic vertebrates that help to maintain balance.
One of two roots of a spinal nerve that passes dorsally from the spinal cord and that consists of sensory fibers.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Deep dorsal vein of the clitoris.
Superficial dorsal veins of the clitoris.
Deep dorsal vein of the penis.
Superficial dorsal veins of the penis.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.