visceral reaction
Deep bodily feeling
A visceral reaction is an immediate, instinctive response felt in the body rather than reasoned through—a gut-level feeling that bypasses conscious thought.
The phrase often describes strong negative responses: I had a visceral reaction to the violence in that film.
But visceral reactions can also be positive—instant attraction, sudden joy, inexplicable comfort with a stranger.
- gutDigestive tract, or instinct
- gut feelingInstinctive sense about something
- instinctInnate behavioral tendency
- primalFirst in origin
- fight or flightThreat-triggered physiological state
raw · immediate · recoil · shudder · hair standing up · cold sweat · revulsion · disgust · flinch · involuntary · deep · physical · emotional · stomach · pit in stomach · nausea · aversion · repulsion
- instinctsinstinct, survival instinct, survival instincts, maternal instinct, gut instinct
- reactionsresponse, gasp, wince, flinch, startle
cognitive processing mode
visceral reactionlogical conclusion
visceral, viscera, viscerally, eviscerate, eviscerated, evisceration, react, reaction, reactions