neuron

[noo r-on, nyoo r-]

noun

Cell Biology. a specialized, impulse-conducting cell that is the functional unit of the nervous system, consisting of the cell body and its processes, the axon and dendrites.

Also especially British, neu·rone

[noo r-ohn, nyoo r-] /ˈnʊər oʊn, ˈnyʊər-/.

Compare synapse.

Origin of neuron

First recorded in 1880–85, neuron is from the Greek word neûron sinew, cord, nerve

Also called nerve cell.

Related formsneu·ron·al

[noo r-uh-nl, nyoo r-, noo-rohn-l, nyoo-] /ˈnʊər ə nl, ˈnyʊər-, nʊˈroʊn l, nyʊ-/, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for neuron

Contemporary Examples of neuron

Aren't all facts, at the neuron and synapse level, really the same?
Sorry, Folks, Playing Dots Won’t Make You Smarter
Kent Sepkowitz
June 20, 2013
The current issue of Neuron features a new study on selective memory erasure.
How to Erase Your Memories
Casey Schwartz
November 7, 2008

Historical Examples of neuron

The contact of the axon of one neuron with the dendrons of another is called a synapse.
Psychotherapy
James J. Walsh
These are transferred from neuron to neuron through the synapse.
Psychotherapy
James J. Walsh
That is not a loss of memory but a failure of neuron connections.
Psychotherapy
James J. Walsh
The word is derived from the Greek neuron nerve, and astheneia weakness.
Why Worry?
George Lincoln Walton, M.D.
Neuron, nū′ron, n. the cerebro-spinal axis in its entirety: a nervure of an insect's wing.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 3 of 4: N-R)
Various

Word Origin and History for neuron

"a nerve cell with appendages," 1891, from German Neuron, from Greek neuron (see neuro-). Used earlier (1884) for "the spinal cord and brain."

neuron in Medicine

neuron

[nur′ŏn′]

n.

Any of the impulse-conducting cells that constitute the brain, spinal column, and nerves, consisting of a nucleated cell body with one or more dendrites and a single axon.nerve cell neurocyte

neuron in Science

neuron

[nur′ŏn′]

A cell of the nervous system. Neurons typically consist of a cell body, which contains a nucleus and receives incoming nerve impulses, and an axon, which carries impulses away from the cell body. Also called nerve cell