ventral

adjective ven·tral \ ˈven-trəl \

|Updated on: 10 May 2018

Definition of ventral

1 a : of or relating to the belly : abdominal

b : being or located near or on the anterior or lower surface of an animal opposite the back

2 : being or located on the lower surface of a dorsiventral plant structure

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ventrally

play \-trə-lē\ adverb

See ventral defined for kids

Recent Examples of ventral from the Web

Its gray-blue flanks were ticked with cream flecks and its ventral fins were tinged with orange.

— paul a. smith, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Smith: There's no point in rushing when there's a big laker on the line," 28 Apr. 2018
Our study evaluated 333 hospital inpatients discharged home after six different types of general surgery operations: bariatric procedures; operations on the stomach, liver, pancreas, and colon; and ventral hernia repair.

— richard j. barth, STAT, "Trump wants to reduce opioid prescriptions by one-third. We can start now," 30 Mar. 2018
The other pathway makes use of networks located in the parietal and ventral regions that, among other things, are involved in autobiographical memory and the discovery of relevant visual stimuli.

— nicola ballhausen, Scientific American, "Foresee and Forget: How to Remember the Future," 7 Mar. 2018
Three brain areas work together to stop body movement: the dorsal part of the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (red), the ventral part of the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (blue) and the bilateral frontal eye fields (green).

— ben tinker, CNN, "How to hit your brain's 'kill switch' -- before it's too late," 8 Dec. 2017
And that portion of their brains was also showing greater functional connectivity, communicating more readily with another part of the brain, the ventral striatum, known as the brain’s reward center.

— gretchen reynolds, New York Times, "Giving Proof," 14 Sep. 2017
The coins had collected in a heavy ball that cracked the turtle’s ventral shell, leading to an acute infection.

— brigit katz, Smithsonian, "The Sea Turtle That Ate 915 Coins Has Died," 21 Mar. 2017
It's produced in the ventral tegmental part of the brain and is released when a person expects or receives a reward of any kind.

— peter dunn, Indianapolis Star, "Pete the Planner: Money-related mental illness is no joking matter," 23 Aug. 2017
The farm fish will also potentially have damaged or eroded dorsal, ventral and tail fins from their captivity in nets.

— the oregonian/oregonlive, OregonLive.com, "Paul Ryan visits Oregon, preaches tax reform at Intel," 23 Aug. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'ventral.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.