Meaning & use
afferent nerves
Last updated
Meaning
nounpluralmedicalbiology
Nerves that carry signals from sense organs and body tissues toward the brain and spinal cord.
Grammar: Usually plural: afferent nerves carry signals.
Patterns
- afferent nerves carry something
- afferent nerves from something
Afferent nerves carry touch signals from the skin to the spinal cord.
The doctor tested the afferent nerves in the patient's foot.
Damage to afferent nerves can cause numbness.
Word forms
| singular | afferent nerve |
|---|
Common combinations
- afferent nerve fibers
- Afferent nerve fibers send pain signals upward.
- sensory afferent nerves
- Sensory afferent nerves detect heat and cold.
- afferent and efferent nerves
- Afferent and efferent nerves work as a pair.
- damage to afferent nerves
- Damage to afferent nerves reduces sensation.
Synonyms and how they differ
- sensory nerves
- Sensory nerves is the everyday term for afferent nerves in most lessons, though afferent describes direction and sensory describes function.
- afferent neurons
- Afferent neurons are the individual cells, while afferent nerves are bundles of their fibers.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: afferent nerves or efferent nerves? afferent nerves or affluent?
afferent nerves vs efferent nerves
Efferent nerves carry commands from the brain to muscles, which is the opposite direction from afferent nerves.
afferent nerves vs affluent
Affluent means wealthy and is unrelated to nerves.
Practice
A signal traveling from your fingertip to your spinal cord uses ___.
Choose one answer.
Signals moving toward the central nervous system travel along afferent nerves. Efferent nerves carry commands away.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “afferent nerves”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.