Question
The dorsal cavity is _____ to the ventral cavity.
Answer
The missing word is posterior.
The dorsal cavity is posterior to the ventral cavity. In human anatomical terminology, posterior means toward the back, while anterior means toward the front.
The dorsal division includes the cranial and vertebral cavities. The ventral division includes the thoracic and abdominopelvic cavities. Their names describe the back-to-front organization illustrated in standard human anatomy diagrams.
How to choose the directional term
Identify the reference structure first: here it is the ventral cavity. Then ask where the dorsal cavity lies relative to it. The comparison is toward the back, so posterior fits. Superior and inferior compare height; medial and lateral compare distance from the midline. Those are different axes and do not fill this blank.
Use the conventional human anatomical position even if an illustration shows the person lying down. Changing the person's posture does not rename the anatomical directions.
Evidence boundary
This page answers the standalone directional fill-in shown above. Its original textbook and edition have not been confirmed. The explanation uses standard human anatomical position and textbook cavity terminology; it does not claim to reconstruct a larger worksheet, unseen options, or a clinical imaging finding.
Sources
These references support the concepts and methods used in the explanation above.