EFFERENT

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does efferent mean? 

• EFFERENT (noun)
  The noun EFFERENT has 1 sense:

1. a nerve that conveys impulses toward or to muscles or glands

  Familiarity information: EFFERENT used as a noun is very rare.

• EFFERENT (adjective)
  The adjective EFFERENT has 1 sense:

1. of nerves and nerve impulses; conveying information away from the CNS

  Familiarity information: EFFERENT used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• EFFERENT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A nerve that conveys impulses toward or to muscles or glands

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Synonyms:

efferent; efferent nerve; motor nerve

Hypernyms ("efferent" is a kind of...):

nerve; nervus (any bundle of nerve fibers running to various organs and tissues of the body)

Meronyms (parts of "efferent"):

efferent neuron; motoneuron; motor nerve fiber; motor neuron (a neuron conducting impulses outwards from the brain or spinal cord)

efferent fiber; motor fiber (a nerve fiber that carries impulses toward the muscles or glands)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "efferent"):

anterior horn; anterior root; ventral horn; ventral root (one of the two roots of a spinal nerve that passes ventrally from the spinal cord and that consists of motor fibers)

corticospinal tract; pyramidal motor system; pyramidal tract (any of the important motor nerves on each side of the central nervous system that run from the sensorimotor areas of the cortex through the brainstem to motor neurons of the cranial nerve nuclei and the ventral root of the spinal cord)

Derivation:

efferent (of nerves and nerve impulses; conveying information away from the CNS)

• EFFERENT (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Of nerves and nerve impulses; conveying information away from the CNS

Synonyms:

efferent; motorial

Context example:

efferent nerves and impulses

Similar:

centrifugal; motor (conveying information to the muscles from the CNS)

corticifugal; corticoefferent; corticofugal (of a nerve fiber passing outward from the cerebral cortex)

neuromotor (relating to a nerve fiber or impulse passing toward motor effectors)

Domain category:

physiology (the branch of the biological sciences dealing with the functioning of organisms)

Antonym:

afferent (of nerves and nerve impulses; conveying sensory information from the sense organs to the CNS)

Derivation:

efferent (a nerve that conveys impulses toward or to muscles or glands)

 Context examples 

A lymphatic vessel that is formed by efferent lymphatic vessels and empties lymph into the lymphatic ducts.

(Lymph Trunk, NCI Thesaurus)

An efferent neuron that sends impulses from the central nervous system to skeletal muscles.

(Motor Neuron, NCI Thesaurus)

An irregular tortuous space within lymph nodes through which a continuous stream of lymph passes entering into the efferent lymphatic vessels.

(Lymph Node Sinus, NCI Thesaurus)

Guaifenesin increases respiratory tract mucus secretions, acts as an irritant to gastric vagal receptors and recruits efferent parasympathetic reflexes that cause glandular exocytosis.

(Guaifenesin, NCI Thesaurus)

Twelve pairs of nerves that carry general afferent, visceral afferent, special afferent, somatic efferent, and autonomic efferent fibers.

(Cranial Nerve, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

It also sends parasympathetic efferents (via the ciliary ganglion) to the muscles controlling pupillary constriction and accommodation.

(Oculomotor Nerve, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

It consists of the efferent ductules and the duct of the epididymis.

(Epididymis, NCI Thesaurus)

The deposition of hyaline material in the wall of the efferent arterioles.

(Efferent Arteriolar Hyalinosis, NCI Thesaurus)

White matter pathway, flanked by nuclear masses, consisting of both afferent and efferent fibers projecting between the cerebral cortex and the brainstem.

(Internal Capsule, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

Abnormal, tangled collections of dilated blood vessels that result from congenitally malformed vascular structures in which arterial afferents flow directly into venous efferents without the usual resistance of an intervening capillary bed.

(Arteriovenous Malformation, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)