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.
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
The branch that enters the glomerulus is called the afferent arteriole.
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
In proprioception, proprioceptive and kinesthetic signals travel through myelinated afferent neurons running from the spinal cord to the medulla.
From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022
To illustrate Kidney structure.-- a.b.v., and e.b.v., afferent and efferent blood-vessels, of which the latter go to break up upon the tubli.
From Text Book of Biology, Part 1: Vertebrata by Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)
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.
