neural
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
- interneural adjective
- neurally adverb
- nonneural adjective
- postneural adjective
- preneural adjective
- subneural adjective
- unneural adjective
Etymology
Origin of neural
Explanation
Something described as neural has to do with your body's nervous system, particularly your nerves. When you stub your toe, a neural signal is sent to your brain to tell you how much it hurts. The word neural has a Greek root, neuron, or "nerve." This scientific term is sometimes used interchangeably with neurological for anything connected with the entire nervous system. Neural pathways describe the route messages take through your nerves and spinal cord to your brain, and a neural disorder is an ailment that affects that part of your body.
Vocabulary lists containing neural
Body Parts: Neur ("Nerve")
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"Magic and the Brain," Vocabulary from the magazine article
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"Magic and the Brain" by Susana Martinez-Conde and Stephen L. Macknik
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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.
The trading firm uses tens of thousands of graphics processing units to develop neural networks informing its trading strategies.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 15, 2026
It can even help our brain to develop new neural pathways around brain injuries.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 8, 2026
By comparing brain connections in healthy individuals with those at different stages of disease, scientists may be able to identify early changes in neural circuits.
From Science Daily • Apr. 7, 2026
"For the first time, we found that astrocytes encode and maintain neural fear signaling," Halladay said.
From Science Daily • Apr. 4, 2026
Inside the writer’s brain, the links between ideas are kept straight by the neural code that makes memory and reasoning possible.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
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.
