Make Your Point > Archived Issues > VISCERAL
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Things experienced in the gut or in the heart, rather than in the brain, are visceral. It's one of oodles of terms that put body parts to use in a figurative way. (Just yesterday we checked out another, related to the throat; can you recall it?) Let's revisit some more:
- Another word for "head" or "skull" is "pate," and if you're a____pated, you're all mixed up in the head.
-French for "head to foot," c__-à-p__ means "clad in full armor" or "totally prepared for the challenges ahead."
-From Latin roots that literally mean "to shackle the feet," imped______ is stuff that slows you down and makes it hard for you to make progress.
make your point with...
"VISCERAL"
The viscera are the internal organs of the body's trunk: the heart, lungs, stomach, and so on.
Because we sometimes imagine that the viscera are where we experience emotions--like when you've got a gut feeling, or you just know it in your heart--something visceral involves your feelings on a deep, instinctive level (rather than involving your brain, on a rational level).
Pronunciation:
VISS uh rull
Part of speech:
Adjective.
(Adjectives are describing words, like "large" or "late."
They can be used in two ways:
1. Right before a noun, as in "a visceral thing."
2. After a linking verb, as in "It was visceral.")
Other forms:
viscerally
How to use it:
Talk about a visceral effect, a visceral reaction or response, a visceral experience, something with visceral appeal or energy or power, etc.
Visceral language, visceral images, visceral performances and so on touch you right in the heart.
If you have a certain visceral thought or visceral feeling (such as a visceral sense that someone is untrustworthy, or a visceral dislike or desire), then you experience that thought or feeling very deeply, and you arrived at it by instinct rather than by logical thought.
examples:
It takes some mental preparation, some steeling of the heart and mind, to visit the Holocaust Museum and take in all those visceral images.
They pose no threat, but millipedes give me a shudder of visceral fear.
study it now:
Look away from the screen to explain the definition in your own words. You’ll know you understand what "visceral" means when you can explain it without saying "intuitive" or "related to deep emotions."
try it out:
Think of a poem, book, movie, or song that affects you deeply or transports you into a memory. Fill in the blanks: "_____ has a visceral effect on me: (explain how you react)."
Example: "Ani DiFranco's 'Fixing Her Hair' has a visceral effect on me: when it plays, my stomach tightens."
before you review:
Spend at least 20 seconds occupying your mind with the game below. Then try the review questions. Don’t go straight to the review now—let your working memory empty out first.
This month, we're playing "You Know, That Thing!"
This game challenges your powers of recall. Start a timer: twenty seconds if you're an adult, longer if you're a kid or an English language learner. Read the description of each thing, and come up with its name. Try to name all three before your timer runs out. (Scroll all the way down for the answers.)
Ready? Go!
1. The outer cover that detaches from a book is the…
2. A hunter's elevated platform attached to a tree is a…
3. The dominating theory for the origin of the universe, the one in which everything is thought to have expanded from a singularity, is called the…
review today's word:
1. The opposite of VISCERAL is
A. CEREBRAL
B. CARDIAC
C. PEDAL
2. As he reshaped his story so that it focused on _____, it gained a visceral power.
A. the kind of humor that eight-year-olds can't get enough of
B. a real person solving a real mystery
C. hard data
Answers are below.
a final word:
To be a sponsor and send your own message to readers of this list, please contact Liesl at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.
Disclaimer: Word meanings presented here are expressed in plain language and are limited to common, useful applications only. Readers interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words are encouraged to check a dictionary. Likewise, word meanings, usage, and pronunciations are limited to American English; these elements may vary across world Englishes.
Answers to review questions:
1. A
2. B
Answers to game questions:
1. dust cover, dust jacket, dust wrapper, or book jacket
2. tree stand or deer stand
3. big bang or big bang theory
Things experienced in the gut or in the heart, rather than in the brain, are visceral. It's one of oodles of terms that put body parts to use in a figurative way. (Just yesterday we checked out another, related to the throat; can you recall it?) Let's revisit some more:
"VISCERAL" The viscera are the internal organs of the body's trunk: the heart, lungs, stomach, and so on. Pronunciation: Part of speech:
It takes some mental preparation, some steeling of the heart and mind, to visit the Holocaust Museum and take in all those visceral images.
Look away from the screen to explain the definition in your own words. You’ll know you understand what "visceral" means when you can explain it without saying "intuitive" or "related to deep emotions."
Think of a poem, book, movie, or song that affects you deeply or transports you into a memory. Fill in the blanks: "_____ has a visceral effect on me: (explain how you react)."
Spend at least 20 seconds occupying your mind with the game below. Then try the review questions. Don’t go straight to the review now—let your working memory empty out first.
1. The opposite of VISCERAL is
To be a sponsor and send your own message to readers of this list, please contact Liesl at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.
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