knee-jerk reflex
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The term is loosely applied to any response or belief that is automatic rather than thoughtful. In this sense, it is usually a term of reproach: “Smith is a knee-jerk liberal.”
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.
My self-deprecating remarks, a knee-jerk reflex with me, didn’t amuse him.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 12, 2023
“It’s like they go into hibernation from the overwhelming stress. Their brain switches off engagement with their social environment. They don’t respond to pain. Their knee-jerk reflex is absent.”
From Washington Times ● Sep. 3, 2018
Just as with the knee-jerk reflex, “you have to hit the knee hard enough in the right place, or else nothing happens,” he told me.
From New York Times ● Apr. 18, 2018
A deep tendon reflex is commonly known as a stretch reflex, and is elicited by a strong tap to a tendon, such as in the knee-jerk reflex.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013
And with a knee-jerk reflex, everybody as usual looks to the young.
From Time Magazine Archive
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.
