Link Centre Dictionary

dorsal

dor·sal

UK/ˈdɔː.səl/ US/ˈdɔː.sl̩/ rare

adjective

1.

belonging to or on or near the back or upper surface of an animal or organ or part

  • “the dorsal fin is the vertical fin on the back of a fish and certain marine mammals”
Antonyms
2.

facing away from the axis of an organ or organism

  • “the abaxial surface of a leaf is the underside or side facing away from the stem”
Synonyms
Antonyms

Origin

From Late Middle English dorsal/dorsale, borrowing from Medieval Latin dorsālis (“of or relating to the back”), from dorsum (“the back”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix); equivalent to dorsum + -al.

Phrases

  • dorsal body hormone
  • dorsal fin
  • dorsal hood
  • dorsal nasal artery
  • dorsal plate
  • dorsal plating
  • dorsal root
  • dorsal root ganglion

Related words

Word family

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.