Adjective

(en adjective)

(anatomy) Of or relating to the viscera—internal organs of the body; splanchnic.

* 1875 , , Insectivorous Plants , ch. 6:

Some areolar tissue free from elastic tissue was next procured from the visceral cavity of a toad.

* 1914 , , The Dream Doctor , ch. 22 The X-Ray "Movies":

"I can focus the X-rays first on the screen by means of a special quartz objective which I have devised. Then I take the pictures. Here, you see, are the lungs in slow or rapid respiration. There is the rhythmically beating heart, distinctly pulsating in perfect outline. There is the liver, moving up and down with the diaphragm, the intestines, and the stomach. You can see the bones moving with the limbs, as well as the inner visceral life."

Having to do with the response of the body as opposed to the intellect, as in the distinction between feeling and thinking.

* 1630 , , "Death's Duel":

Our meditation of his death should be more visceral , and affect us more, because it is of a thing already done.

* 1915 , , The Research Magnificent , Prelude – On Fear and Aristocracy:

[T]he discretion of an aristocrat is in his head, a tactical detail, it has nothing to do with this visceral sinking, this ebb in the nerves.

* 1964 July 3, " Books: Understanding Media'' by Marshall McLuhan," ''Time :

Television and other "electric media" are oral-auditory, tactile, visceral , and involve the individual almost without volition.

* 2011 Feb. 17, Ann Hulbert, " Book Review: Joyce Carol Oates’s Widow’s Lament''," ''New York Times (retrieved 10 Aug. 2011):

At its visceral core, grief is a stress response.

(figurative, obsolete) Having deep sensibility.

* Bishop Reynolds

Love is of all other the inmost and most visceral affection; and therefore called, by the apostle, 'bowels of love.'

Adjective

(en adjective)

Spontaneous, without requiring conscious thought.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-01

, author=Steven Sloman , title=The Battle Between Intuition and Deliberation , volume=100, issue=1, page=74 , magazine= citation , passage=Libertarian paternalism is the view that, because the way options are presented to citizens affects what they choose, society should present options in a way that “nudges” our intuitive selves to make choices that are more consistent with what our more deliberative selves would have chosen if they were in control.}}

* 2013 February 16, Laurie Goodstein, “ Cardinals Size Up Potential Candidates for New Pope”, NYTimes.com :

These impressions [of potential papal candidates], collected from interviews with a variety of church officials and experts, may influence the very intuitive , often unpredictable process the cardinals will use to decide who should lead the world’s largest church.

The intuitive response turned out to be correct.

Easily understood or grasped by intuition.

Designing software with an intuitive interface can be difficult.

Having a marked degree of intuition.