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
- afferently adverb
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.
For example, the DCT ascending limb of the loop of Henle has masses of cells called macula densa, which are in contact with cells of the afferent arterioles called juxtaglomerular cells.
From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022
About 90 percent of the afferent neurons carry information from inner hair cells, with each hair cell synapsing with 10 or so neurons.
From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022
In proprioception, proprioceptive and kinesthetic signals travel through myelinated afferent neurons running from the spinal cord to the medulla.
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
Branchial hearts are not developed on the branchial afferent vessels.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 6 "Celtes, Konrad" to "Ceramics" by Various
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.
