reflex action

3 definitions found

reflex action - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Reflex \Re"flex\ (r?"fl?ks), a. [L. reflexus, p. p. of
     reflectere: cf. F. r['e]flexe. See Reflect.]
     1. Directed back; attended by reflection; retroactive;
        introspective.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The reflex act of the soul, or the turning of the
              intellectual eye inward upon its own actions. --Sir
                                                    M. Hale.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Produced in reaction, in resistance, or in return.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (Physiol.) Of, pertaining to, or produced by, stimulus or
        excitation without the necessary intervention of
        consciousness.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Reflex action (Physiol.), any action performed
        involuntarily in consequence of an impulse or impression
        transmitted along afferent nerves to a nerve center, from
        which it is reflected to an efferent nerve, and so calls
        into action certain muscles, organs, or cells.
  
     Reflex nerve (Physiol.), an excito-motory nerve. See
        Exito-motory.
        [1913 Webster]

reflex action - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  reflex action
      n 1: an automatic instinctive unlearned reaction to a stimulus
           [syn: reflex, reflex response, reflex action,
           instinctive reflex, innate reflex, inborn reflex,
           unconditioned reflex, physiological reaction]

reflex action - Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 :

  34 Moby Thesaurus words for "reflex action":
     action and reaction, answer, automatic reaction, automatic writing,
     automatism, autonomic reaction, blind impulse, bounceback,
     compulsiveness, conditioning, echo, echolalia, echopraxia, impulse,
     instinct, instinctiveness, involuntariness, predictable response,
     reaction, reflection, reflex, refluence, reflux, reply,
     respondence, response, retroaction, return, reverberation,
     revulsion, rise, sheer chemistry, unthinking response,
     unwilledness