Definitions for dorsal

• Definition
• Anagrams (126)

dorsal dor·sal

Spelling: [dawr-suh l]

IPA: /ˈdɔr səl/

Dorsal is a 6 letter English word. It's valid Scrabble word worth 7 points. It's valid Words with friends word worth 8 points.

You can make 126 anagrams from letters in dorsal (adlors).

Definitions for dorsal

noun

1. Phonetics. a dorsal speech sound.
2. Anatomy. a dorsal structure.
3. dossal (def 1).

adjective

1. of, relating to, or situated at the back, or dorsum.
2. Anatomy, Zoology. situated on or toward the upper side of the body, equivalent to the back, or posterior, in humans. situated on or toward the posterior plane in humans or toward the upper plane in quadrupeds. Compare ventral (def 2).
3. Botany. pertaining to the surface away from the axis, as of a leaf; abaxial.
4. Phonetics. (of a speech sound) articulated with the dorsum of the tongue.

Origin of dorsal

1535-45; Medieval Latin dorsālis, equivalent to Latin dors(um) back + -ālis -al¹

Examples for dorsal

Scutum: the second dorsal sclerite of the meso- and meta-thorax.

Thus we see that its dorsal eyes are of great service to onchidium.

Just below the dorsal, on the background of gold, was a line of black dots.

The first and last lines of Lolita make my dorsal hairs quiver, as Nabokov intended.

Relatively misshapen and formless, the dorsal figure is perhaps even more expressive of physical torment.

He divides the vertebral columns into cervical, dorsal, and lumbar portions.

A dorsal view of an embryo with about fifteen pairs of somites.

He shot off with the bait and his dorsal fin stuck out of the water.

In other cases the eggs are carried in the dorsal pouches of the females.

Here the body is shorter and purse-like, and the fins are dorsal and rounded.