Search Result for "reflex action":
Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (1)

1. an automatic instinctive unlearned reaction to a stimulus;
[syn: reflex, reflex response, reflex action, instinctive reflex, innate reflex, inborn reflex, unconditioned reflex, physiological reaction]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Reflex \Re"flex\ (r?"fl?ks), a. [L. reflexus, p. p. of reflectere: cf. F. r['e]flexe. See Reflect.] 1. Directed back; attended by reflection; retroactive; introspective. [1913 Webster] The reflex act of the soul, or the turning of the intellectual eye inward upon its own actions. --Sir M. Hale. [1913 Webster] 2. Produced in reaction, in resistance, or in return. [1913 Webster] 3. (Physiol.) Of, pertaining to, or produced by, stimulus or excitation without the necessary intervention of consciousness. [1913 Webster] Reflex action (Physiol.), any action performed involuntarily in consequence of an impulse or impression transmitted along afferent nerves to a nerve center, from which it is reflected to an efferent nerve, and so calls into action certain muscles, organs, or cells. Reflex nerve (Physiol.), an excito-motory nerve. See Exito-motory. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

reflex action n 1: an automatic instinctive unlearned reaction to a stimulus [syn: reflex, reflex response, reflex action, instinctive reflex, innate reflex, inborn reflex, unconditioned reflex, physiological reaction]