Adrenal

//æˈdɹiːnəl// adj, noun, slang

adj, noun, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An adrenal gland.
  2. 2
    either of a pair of complex endocrine glands situated near the kidney wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    Pertaining to the adrenal glands (suprarenal glands), their secretions, or the function derived therefrom.

    "She seems to inhabit some fluid, crystalline medium. Pure adrenal dream."

  2. 2
    Abutting or near the kidneys.

    "Near-synonym: perirenal"

  3. 3
    Full of excitement or adrenaline. informal

    "[a single outstanding act of violence][…]took place inside the stadium, and in front of the watching millions, as Liam Roberts launched an adrenal, wildly dangerous flying challenge into the head of Jean-Philippe Mateta with five minutes gone."

Adjective
  1. 1
    of or pertaining to the adrenal glands or their secretions wordnet
  2. 2
    near the kidneys wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
adrenal glandadrenal glandendocrineglandglandularhumoral

Example

More examples

"The adrenal glands secrete adrenalin."

Etymology

From ad- (“near”) + renal (“pertaining to the kidneys”), from Latin rēn (“kidney”).

Related phrases

adrenal arteryadrenal cortexadrenal glandhypothalamic-pituitary-adrenalhypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axisadrenal gland

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.