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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. adj. Of, relating to, or near the anus.
  2. adj. Psychology Of or relating to the second stage of psychosexual development in psychoanalytic theory, roughly from ages one to three, during which gratification is derived from sensations associated with the anus and defecation. The anal stage is preceded by the oral stage and followed by the phallic stage.
  3. adj. Psychology Indicating personality traits that originated during toilet training and are distinguished as anal-expulsive or anal-retentive.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. Of or pertaining to the anus.
  2. Situated at or near the anus; aboral: the opposite of oral.
  3. Ventral and median, as the fin of a fish, without reference to its position with respect to the anus: the opposite of dorsal.
  4. In zoölogy its abbreviation is adjective
  5. In mammals, any glandular organ situated near or connected with the anus, such as those existing in the Mustelidæ. They reach their greatest development in the skunks, and their secretion is the cause of the fetid odor of these animals.
  6. n. In ichthyology, an anal fin.

Wiktionary

  1. adj. of, related to, intended for or involving the anus
  2. adj. of the stage in psychosexual development when the child's interest is concentrated on the anal region.
  3. adj. of a person, obsessed with neatness, accuracy, compulsiveness and stubbornness, supposedly from not having progressed beyond the anal stage.
  4. n. abbreviated form of anal sex

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. adj. Pertaining to, or situated near, the anus.

WordNet 3.0

  1. adj. of or related to the anus
  2. adj. a stage in psychosexual development when the child's interest is concentrated on the anal region; fixation at this stage is said to result in orderliness, meanness, stubbornness, compulsiveness, etc.

Etymologies

  1. From Latin ānus, anus.

Examples

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‘anal’ has been looked up 3309 times, loved by 2 people, added to 18 lists, and has a Scrabble score of 4.