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protopathic

[ proh-tuh-path-ik ]

adjective

, Physiology.
  1. noting or pertaining to a general, nondiscriminating responsiveness to pain or temperature stimuli ( epicritic ).
  2. primitive; primary.


protopathic

/ ˌprəʊtəˈpæθɪk; prəʊˈtɒpəθɪ /

adjective

  1. of or relating to a sensory nerve that perceives only coarse stimuli, such as pain
  2. of or relating to such perception
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Derived Forms

  • protopathy, noun
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Other Words From

  • pro·top·a·thy [pr, uh, -, top, -, uh, -thee], noun
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Word History and Origins

Origin of protopathic1

First recorded in 1855–60; proto- + -pathic
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Word History and Origins

Origin of protopathic1

C20: from proto- + Greek pathos suffering, disease + -ic
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Example Sentences

Neither he nor his disciples have yet recognized the aid proffered them by students of the autonomic system or by the distinctions between the epicritic and protopathic functions and organs of the cerebrum, although these will doubtless come to have their due place as we know more of the nature and processes of the unconscious mind.

Hayem already turns the incomplete production of serum to account, for distinguishing protopathic pernicious anæmia from other severe anæmic conditions.

Protopathic sensibility is of a lower order than epicritic.

The fibres concerned are non-medullated and regenerate comparatively quickly after injury, so that protopathic sensibility is regained before epicritic.

Protopathic sensibility is lost over an area which varies in different cases.

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