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rectus

noun

Simple meaning

A paired muscle running vertically on each side of the anterior wall of the abdomen in humans and some other mammals.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

rehktuhs

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈɹɛktəs

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. anatomy

    A paired muscle running vertically on each side of the anterior wall of the abdomen in humans and some other mammals.

  2. anatomy

    Any of several straight muscles in various parts of the body, as of the abdomen, thigh, eye etc.

  3. anatomy

    Any of a number of muscles controlling the movement of the eyeball.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

superior rectuslateral rectusinferior rectusrectus sheathgyrus rectusrectus muscleexternal rectusinternal rectus

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • rectus inferiornounCompound term

    The ocular muscle whose contraction turns the eyeball down and medially.

  • rectus lateralisnounCompound term

    The ocular muscle whose contraction turns the eyeball outward.

  • rectus medialisnounCompound term

    The ocular muscle whose contraction turns the eyeball medially.

  • rectus superiornounCompound term

    The ocular muscle whose contraction turns the eyeball upward and medially.

  • inferior rectus musclenounCompound term

    The ocular muscle whose contraction turns the eyeball down and medially.

  • lateral rectusnounCompound term

    The ocular muscle whose contraction turns the eyeball outward.

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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.