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The most famous use of dorsal is with fin, whether it conjures the ominous dorsal fin of sharks or the benign, even benevolent, image of porpoises and dolphins. Less well-known is the botanical sense of dorsal, meaning "facing away from the axis or stem" (thus the underside of a leaf can be the dorsal side), or the linguistic sense referring to articulations made with the back part of the tongue (\k\ and \g\, for example). Dorsal can be used of non-living things too (in particular, the backs of airplanes), as can its opposite, ventral, which means "relating to the belly." Dorsal descends from Latin dorsum ("back"), which also gave us dossier (via French, for a bundle of documents labeled on the back) and reredos ("an ornamental screen or partition wall behind an altar").
Examples of dorsal in a Sentence
Robert Martone, Scientific American, 21 Dec. 2021
For one, there was the enigma of what scientists had believed was the dorsal organ’s position.
—Mindy Weisberger, CNN, 24 June 2024
Jackie Wattles, CNN, 24 July 2024
Meanwhile the dorsal auditory pathway, the brain area that connects the auditory cortex with movement areas, is where the rhythm apparently matches the basic beat.
—Anna Von Hopffgarten, Scientific American, 26 Mar. 2024
See all Example Sentences for dorsal 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'dorsal.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Dorsal.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dorsal. Accessed 17 Sep. 2024.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
dorsal
2 of 2 noun
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