bowel movement

noun

plural bowel movements

: an act of passing usually solid waste through the rectum and anus

He had a two-day history of right lower abdominal pain … without bowel movements.

—William W. Scott, Jr. et al.

also : fecal matter expelled at one passage : stool sense 3a

Cats get infected from contact with other cats' bowel movements or by predation.

—Donald Caslow

Examples of bowel movement in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Instead, walk around a bit — since the motion can stimulate gut muscles to produce a bowel movement. —Cnn.com Wire Service, The Mercury News, 12 Nov. 2024

Kellogg’s thinking on constipation, that anything less than three bowel movements a day risked dangerous intestinal putrefaction, was shaped by the emerging germ theory of disease and the ascent of bacteriology as a discipline through the closing decades of the 19th century. —Elsa Richardson, TIME, 3 Oct. 2024

There's a change in your bowel movements, including pain in bowel movement or blood in stool. —Michelle Pugle, Verywell Health, 4 Nov. 2024

Fecal incontinence, also known as bowel incontinence or accidental bowel leakage, is the inability to control your bowel movements. —Cristina Mutchler, Health, 3 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1870, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

bowel movement

noun

: an act of passing usually solid waste through the rectum and anus

also : fecal matter expelled at one passage : stool

Medical Definition

bowel movement

noun

: an act of passing usually solid waste through the rectum and anus