torso

[ tawr-soh ]

noun

, plural tor·sos, tor·si [tawr, -see].

1. the trunk of the human body.
2. a sculptured form representing the trunk of a nude female or male figure.
3. something mutilated or incomplete.

torso

/ ˈtɔːsəʊ /

noun

1. the trunk of the human body
2. a statue of a nude human trunk, esp without the head or limbs
3. something regarded as incomplete or truncated

Word History and Origins

Origin of torso¹

1715–25; < Italian: stalk, trunk of statue < Latin thyrsus < Greek thýrsos wand, stem

Word History and Origins

Origin of torso¹

C18: from Italian: stalk, stump, from Latin: thyrsus

Example Sentences

Likewise, Britax advertises that its “Side Impact Protection surrounds your child’s head, neck and torso,” a claim that the investigators said “appears designed to mislead consumers.”

From ProPublica

Maui Now reported last month that a 35-year-old California woman suffered severe torso injuries in an apparent shark attack off the coast of that island on Thanksgiving Day.

From Washington Post

At the very least, look for coats that go past your hips, so warm air can surround your torso.

From Outside Online

Sometimes variations in riders’ torso and inseam lengths are to blame.

From Outside Online

The motors are ranged from low to high frequency, which is how your inner ear is also arranged, so we’re taking the inner ear and transferring it to the skin of the torso.

From Nautilus

She tugged on the black rope that wrapped around his thighs and torso, her leather gloves creaking with each adjustment.

From The Daily Beast

From the torso, the Lift claims the ability to better sense the true culprit of bad posture: the neck and shoulders.

From The Daily Beast

The repetition of that became as tastelessly titillating as showing us a torn arm or a decomposing torso.

From The Daily Beast

Every time he breathed, he felt pains all through his torso—fractured ribs.

From The Daily Beast

He had skinny legs and bloated ribs fanning from his torso like an accordion strapped to his chest.

From The Daily Beast

The thick torso of a man who squatted like a toad could be seen partly emerging from the shrubs.

From Project Gutenberg

The front legs stretched, and stretched, while the torso seemed to pull in on itself, shrinking in the death agonies.

From Project Gutenberg

He was stripped to the waist, his jacket in shreds, his compact torso white and gleaming.

From Project Gutenberg

He reached a hand toward the cutout, the torso of which still bulged upward from the desk.

From Project Gutenberg

Broken columns, marble capitals, here, there and everywhere at the bottom of the lake—here a head and there a torso!

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• bronze
• bust
• effigy
• figure
• icon
• image
• likeness
• marble
• piece
• sculpture
• statuary
• statuette