visceral response
Deep, unthinking feeling
A visceral response is a reaction that feels physical and immediate rather than reasoned—a gut-level feeling that bypasses conscious thought.
The phrase emphasizes bodily sensation: I had a visceral response to the violence in that film.
Visceral comes from viscera, the internal organs, suggesting feelings that originate deep in the body rather than the mind.
- gutDigestive tract, or instinct
- gut feelingInstinctive sense about something
- instinctInnate behavioral tendency
- primalFirst in origin
- fight or flightThreat-triggered physiological state
raw · knee jerk · reaction · revulsion · shudder · recoil · nausea · goosebumps · hair standing up · adrenaline · cold sweat · flinch · disgust · horror · repulsion · stomach · pit in stomach · churning
- disgustdisgust, disgusting, disgusted, revulsion, repulsion
- instinctsinstinct, survival instinct, survival instincts, maternal instinct, gut instinct
visceral responselogical conclusion
analytical thinking · measured response · philosophical reflection
visceral responseindifference
Lack of interest
apathy · detachment · emotional detachment · numbness · dispassion
viscera, visceral, viscerally, eviscerate, evisceration, respond, response, responds, responded