Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A ringlike muscle that normally maintains constriction of a body passage or orifice and that relaxes as required by normal physiological functioning.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. An orbicular, circular, or annular muscle surrounding and capable of closing a natural orifice or passage of the body.
- n. The sphincter ani proper, sphincter externus, or external sphincter is a thin, flat plane of voluntary muscular fibers supplied by hemorrhoidal branches of nerves from the sacral plexus, surrounding the anus, subcutaneous and intimately adherent to the integument, of elliptical form 3 or 4 inches in long diameter, and an inch wide across. It arises from the tip of the coccyx, and is inserted into the tendinous raphe of the perineum. Like most sphincters. it consists of symmetrical lateral halves united by a raphe in front of and behind the opening it incloses.
- n. The sphincter recti, sphincter internus, or internal sphincter surrounds the lower end of the rectum, forming a muscular ring about an inch in extent and a quarter of an inch thick, and consists of an aggregation and thickening of the circular fibers of the gut. This sphincter is involuntary, and in health maintains its tonic contractility, which yields by reflex action to the pressure of the contents of the bowel.
Wiktionary
- n. anatomy A ringlike band of muscle that surrounds a bodily opening, constricting and relaxing as required for normal physiological functioning.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Anat.) A muscle which surrounds, and by its contraction tends to close, a natural opening.
- adj. (Anat.) Of, pertaining to, or designating, a sphincter.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a ring of muscle that contracts to close an opening
Etymologies
- From Late Latin sphincter, from Ancient Greek σφιγκτήρ (sphinktēr, "band, contractile muscle"), from σφίγγω (sphingō, "I bind tight"). Compare sphinx, "the strangler". (Wiktionary)
- Late Latin sphinctēr, from Greek sphinktēr, from sphingein, to bind tight. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“My sphincter is technically precise too Michael. papasanchez”
Michael Bay Says Post Production 3D Upconversion “Looks Like Fake 3D” | /Film
“The cervix being a sphincter is built to let out cantelopes.”
“As a leader of non-profit I have learned that Starbucks’ sphincter is so tight if they squeezed out a free coffee bean it would come out looking like a diamond.”
“I would say with Hillary the sphincter is a bit too tightly would for true Killer status!”
“There is one test I REALLY hope they don't do - it is called the sphincter EMG nerve conduction test.”
“Your internal sphincter, which is directly behind it, is controlled by your autonomic nervous system and, like your heartbeat, works without your thinking about it.”
Simon & Schuster: The Straight Girl's Guide to Sleeping with Chicks
“This is called the lower esophageal sphincter, which is a thick ring of circular smooth muscle at the point between the esophagus and the stomach.”
“When weakened, this muscle called a sphincter, opens inappropriately, or all the time, which is the most distressing.”
“The retentive faculty of the nerve which restrains the muscle called sphincter ('tis the arse-hole, an it please you) was relaxated by the violence of the fear which he had been in during his fantastic visions.”
“The Growcube games you invented were so amazing that we even fell in love with all their shitty imitations – so you can imagine the kind of sphincter-squeaking anticipation we had for Galves Adventure.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘sphincter’.
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LIT - Ulysses - key words and phrases
money cowrie, bedraggle, omphalos, ineluctable, postprandial, bladderwrack, modality barnacle..., loofah, shipworm, cither, embattle, Malachi and 503 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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Can You Stomach This?
These things have to do with the stomach...
stomach, gastric, sphincter, fundus, omentum, pylorus, cardia, chyme, mesogastrium, peristalsis, rugae, curvature and 12 more...
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essbunny@gmail.com's list
Intrigued by these words...
sphincter, blush, flume, shingle, spurt, pulp, precious, squeal, zest, zeal, cherish, fervor and 35 more...
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Twitter favorites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favorite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
unfathomably, glice, cuh, fab, ciggaty, doll, thuggin, oxymoronic, pineapple, succubutt, griming, cheeky and 2369 more... -
poonis's Words
windswept, brouhaha, nocuous, sanguine, dissonance, diatribe, homunculus, rancor, stupor, resplendent, anecdote, splay and 125 more...
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hedges's Words
wii, crepuscule, adumbrate, concatenation, sufi, qawwali, furry, riot, mellifluous, conspiracy, etymology, tea cozy and 369 more...
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katiad's Words
exquisite, obnoxious, noxious, extravaganza, whirlwind, whirling, wild, spinster, existential, chaos, zephyr, blasphemy and 310 more...
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Tickles my humerus
I find these to be inherently funny.
cow tipping, bumblebee, homoscedasticity, seattle, wagga wagga, booby, pants, guacamole, poodle, fanny pack, nincompoop, svenborgia and 161 more...
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Ugliest Words Ever
words that I refuse to say out loud.
tuna, uranus, bulbous, vaginal, rectum, cunnilingus, flatulance, pedagogy, blooper, booger, beefy, polyp and 116 more...
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new words
faulty parallelism, antebellum, lucubrate, retronym, asyndeton, polysyndeton, chiasmus, laconic, dysphemism, zeugma, subpoena, dialectic and 130 more...
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words I have an irrational and burnin...
celesbian, crouch, perez hilton, slop, lotus boob, anal fissure, eat out, crotch, sewage, backwash, vomit, pus and 100 more...
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Favorite body words
frenulum, phalange, orifice, polyp, cyst, duodenum, glandular, prehensile, colorectal, sphincter, ulna, goiter
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A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do ...
A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again By David Foster Wallace
miscegenating, zephyr, cessation, seepage, foliated, peoria, amorphous, virtuoso, caprice, apoplexy, gales, verve and 69 more...
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Words that I love
vulva, crapulence, cunctator, atheist, ampersand, besotted, cumulative, tenacity, clusterfuck, quixotic, epitome, non sequitur and 13 more...
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sexeh
In the midnight hour she cried MOAR MOAR MOAR
orgiastic, vulva, moist, cunnilingus, thrust, swollen, nibble, stroke, engorged, grind, tumescent, lust and 49 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for sphincter.

poonis "sphinctersayswhat" Jul 8, 2008