Word of the Day Archive
Sunday July 24, 2011
somatic \soh-MAT-ik\
, adjective:
1. Of the body; bodily; physical.
2. In anatomy, zoology, pertaining to the body wall of an animal.
3. In cell biology. pertaining to or affecting the somatic cells, as distinguished from the germ cells.
The causes of illness are somatic, though the symptoms may also be psychological; therefore the treatment must be physical.
-- Donia Whiteley Mills, The rules of the game
Dickens too emphasizes the somatic effects of shorthand in this description of scribbling directly on the palm of the hand.
-- Ivan Kreilkamp, Voice and the Victorian storyteller
Somatic derives from the Greek somatikos, "of the body."
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for somatic
