afferent
Americanadjective
noun
adjective
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Carrying sensory information toward a central organ or part, as a nerve that conducts impulses from the periphery of the body to the central nervous system.
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Compare efferent
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of afferent
1830–40; < Latin afferent- (stem of afferēns, present participle of afferre ), equivalent to af- af- + fer- (stem of ferre to carry) + -ent- -ent
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Stimulation of the sensory receptor activates the associated afferent neuron, which carries information about the stimulus to the central nervous system.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
These again split to form arcuate arteries, from which cortical radiate arteries radiate out and branch into many afferent arterioles that enter the capillaries supplying the nephrons.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
Thus, action potentials transmitted over a sensory receptor’s afferent axons encode one type of stimulus, and this segregation of the senses is preserved in other sensory circuits.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
These again split to form cortical radiate arteries that radiate out and branch into many afferent arterioles that enter the capillaries supplying the nephrons.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
Those filaments or cords are the nerves, which you know are divided into two kinds, sensor and motor, or, if you like the terms better, afferent and efferent nerves.
From Fragments of science, V. 1-2 by John Tyndall
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
