1. Foul with waste matter>
2. Of or relating to feces, or composed of feces.
3. The excrement discharged from the intestines.
4. From the Latin faex and faecis, meaning the dregs or sediment.

The vomiting of fecal matter that has been drawn into the stomach from the intestine by spasmodic contractions of the gastric muscles.

The study of human excrement to determine the diet and health of the people who produced it: Elements of seeds, small bones, and parasite eggs provide clues in fecal anthropology and intact feces of ancient people may be found in caves, in arid climates, and in other places where people have lived in the past.

A stool test performed to confirm the diagnosis of steatorrhea.

Steatorrhea is the presence of greater than normal amounts of fat in the feces which are frothy and foul smelling and floating; a symptom of disorders of fat metabolism and malabsorption syndrome caused by disease of the intestinal mucosa or pancreatic enzyme deficiency.

Malabsorption syndrome refers to any of a group of disorders marked by subnormal intestinal absorption of dietary constituents, and causing excessive loss of nutrients in the feces.

It may be due to a digestive defect, a mucosal abnormality, or lymphatic obstruction.

An abnormal passage from the colon to the external surface of the body, for discharging feces.

Fistulas of this kind are usually created surgically in operations involving the removal of malignant or severely ulcerated bowel segments.

An accumulation of hardened or inspissated feces (thickened, dried, or made less fluid by evaporation or absorption of liquid components) in the rectum or sigmoid colon that the individual is unable to move out by defecation.

Diarrhea may be a sign of fecal impaction, since only liquid material is able to pass the obstruction.

Sometimes fecal impaction may cause urinary incontinence because of pressure on the bladder.

People who are dehydrated; nutritionally depleted; on long periods of bed rest; receiving constipating medications; such as, iron or opiates; or undergoing barium radiographic studies are at risk of developing fecal impaction.

Prevention includes adequate ingestion of bulk food, fluids, exercise, regular bowel habits, privacy for defecation, and occasionally stool softeners or laxatives.

A drug that lowers the surface tension of the fecal mass, allowing the intestinal fluids to penetrate and to soften the stool.