Etymology Borrowed from Latin ānālis. By surface analysis, anus + -al. Psychological sense shortened from anal-retentive.
1
Of, related to, intended for or involving the anus.
anal thermometer
an anal examination
1 more example
anal sex
2
Human sciences, Medicine, Psychoanalysis, Psychology, Sciences Of the stage in psychosexual development when the child's interest is alleged to be concentrated on the anal region.
3
Human sciences, Psychology, SciencesAlso, Informal, Vulgar Of a person, compulsive and stubborn, obsessed with neatness and accuracy (usually in an egosyntonic way), supposedly from not having progressed beyond the anal stage.
Please don't touch his furniture, as he can get very anal about things like that.
He was a model of anal defensiveness: fastidious in his dress and appearance, a collector and putter of things in order, a classifier and labeler.1995, Leonard Shengold, Delusions of Everyday Life, page 39:
4
Informal, Vulgar Of tasks, questions, subject matter, etc., obsessively fussy or precise.
This questionnaire goes into the most ridiculous amount of detail. It's totally anal.
5
Biology, Entomology, Natural sciences Of a vein, proximate to the thorax.