pit of the stomach
Deep abdominal center
The pit of the stomach is the area just below the breastbone, where anxiety or dread registers physically.
A sinking feeling, a knot, a hollowness—these sensations locate themselves in the pit of the stomach: She felt it in the pit of her stomach before he even spoke.
The phrase almost always accompanies emotional distress rather than physical illness.
- tummyStomach, childishly
- fossaAnatomical depression or hollow
- breadbasketMajor grain-producing region
- butterfliesFluttering insects or nervousness
- queasy feelingMild stomach disturbance
gut feeling · gut instinct · foreboding · bad feeling · anatomy · tightness · instinct · deep down · solar plexus · abdomen · pit · hollow feeling · sinking feeling · anxiety · dread · epigastrium · knot · belly