anatomy
Americannoun
plural
anatomies-
the science dealing with the structure of animals and plants.
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the structure of an animal or plant, or of any of its parts.
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dissection of all or part of an animal or plant in order to study its structure.
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a plant or animal that has been or will be dissected, or a model of such a dissected organism.
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a skeleton.
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Informal. the human body.
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an analysis or minute examination.
noun
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the science concerned with the physical structure of animals and plants
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the physical structure of an animal or plant or any of its parts
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a book or treatise on this subject
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dissection of an animal or plant
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any detailed analysis
the anatomy of a crime
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informal the human body
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The structure of an organism or any of its parts.
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The scientific study of the shape and structure of organisms and their parts.
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The structure of an animal or plant; also, the study of this structure through techniques such as microscopic observation and dissection. (Compare morphology and physiology.)
Etymology
Origin of anatomy
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin anatomia, from Greek anatom(ḗ) “dissection” (from ana- ana- + tomḗ “a cutting,” noun derivative of témnein “to cut”) + -ia -y 3
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"We now have a reference point that allows us to accurately identify more scrappy finds and map out evolutionary transitions in anatomy and body size."
From Science Daily • Mar. 10, 2026
"The people using these products are, in essence, becoming lab rats," Adam Taylor, professor of anatomy at Lancaster University, explains.
From BBC • Feb. 28, 2026
"Setting the anatomy and proportions requires visualisation from multiple angles and repeated adjustments," he said.
From Barron's • Feb. 26, 2026
The vast majority of people have no reason to ever spend any time at all thinking about this particular part of human anatomy.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 25, 2026
He was not a splitter, but a lumper, a seeker of deeper anatomy.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.