limbic system

American  

noun

Anatomy.

1. a ring of interconnected structures in the midline of the brain around the hypothalamus, involved with emotion and memory and with homeostatic regulatory systems.

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limbic system British  

/ ˈlɪmbɪk /

noun

1. the part of the brain bordering on the corpus callosum: concerned with basic emotion, hunger, and sex

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limbic system Scientific  

/ lĭm′bĭk /

1. A group of interconnected structures of the brain including the hypothalamus, amydala, and hippocampus that are located beneath the cortex, are common to all mammals, and are associated with emotions such as fear and pleasure, memory, motivation, and various autonomic functions.

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Etymology

Origin of limbic system

First recorded in 1950–55

Example Sentences

Somewhere deep in the limbic system, a synapse fires like a flare, tracing the old circuitry of migration and memory — that annual pull toward the wide-open deserts of the American Southwest.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 5, 2026

Lewy bodies, deposits of alpha-synuclein protein, are found in the brainstem, limbic system and cerebral cortex.

From Science Daily • Mar. 26, 2024

In this process, our limbic system is activated and overrides our frontal lobe.

From Salon • Oct. 26, 2023

These networks include limbic system structures, such as the amygdala, which are important in our brain’s processing of emotions and stress.

From Scientific American • Mar. 31, 2023

Surrounding the R-complex is the limbic system or mammalian brain, which evolved tens of millions of years ago in ancestors who were mammals but not yet primates.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan