fetal position

noun

: a position (as of a sleeping person) in which the body lies curled up on one side with the arms and legs drawn up and the head bowed forward and which is assumed in some forms of psychic regression

Examples of fetal position in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But there is ample space between curling into the fetal position and firing away as if this were the second quarter of a Week 4 game against the Chargers. —Mike Sando, New York Times, 12 Jan. 2026

As the first pair of yellow helmets appeared in the forest—Captain Morgan and Kelly Street—Herrington curled into the fetal position and went silent, shivering. —Paige Williams, New Yorker, 12 Jan. 2026

After the fight, Kate runs down the stairs to a quiet den, curls up into a fetal position on the rug and weeps. —Trish Deitch, Variety, 17 Oct. 2025

The man with the gray shirt was thrown on the ground with six men punching and kicking him until he was captured curling up in the fetal position. —Sarah Rumpf-Whitten , Adriana James-Rodil, FOXNews.com, 15 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1887, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for fetal position

• academician
• cycloaddition
• decomposition
• diagnostician
• disinhibition
• indisposition
• interposition
• juxtaposition
• mathematician
• metacognition
• metaphysician
• neurotransmission

Medical Definition

fetal position

noun

: a position (as of a sleeping person) in which the body lies curled up on one side with the arms and legs drawn up toward the chest and the head is bowed forward and which is assumed in some forms of psychological regression