Afferent

//ˈæ.fə.ɹənt// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An afferent structure or connection
  2. 2
    a nerve that passes impulses from receptors toward or to the central nervous system wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    Carrying towards. not-comparable

    "An afferent nerve carries impulses from the body to the brain."

Adjective
  1. 1
    of nerves and nerve impulses; conveying sensory information from the sense organs to the CNS wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
afferent nervecentripetalcorticoafferentinferentsensorysensory nerve

Example

More examples

"An afferent nerve carries impulses from the body to the brain."

Etymology

From Latin adferens (“bringing to”), present participle of adferre (“to bring to”), from ad (“to, toward”) + ferre (“to carry, bear”).

Related phrases

afferent loop syndrome

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.