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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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.
Outer hair cells connect to only 10 percent of the afferent neurons, and each afferent neuron innervates many hair cells.
From Textbooks • Jun. 9, 2022
The afferent, bipolar neurons that convey auditory information travel from the cochlea to the medulla, through the pons and midbrain in the brainstem, finally reaching the primary auditory cortex in the temporal lobe.
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
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
A message along a nerve to a ganglion cell is an afferent impression, from a cell to a muscle or other external end is an efferent impression.
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.
