gray matter

gray matter

noun

Definition of GRAY MATTER

1

: neural tissue especially of the brain and spinal cord that contains nerve-cell bodies as well as nerve fibers and has a brownish-gray color

2

: brains, intellect

Examples of GRAY MATTER

1. <she's got the gray matter to figure that equation out>

First Known Use of GRAY MATTER

1840

Related to GRAY MATTER

Synonyms

brain(s), brainpower, intelligence, headpiece, intellect, intellectuality, mentality, reason, sense, smarts

Related Words

eggheadedness, highbrowism, intellectualism; braininess, brilliance; acumen, alertness, apprehension, astuteness, discernment, discriminability, insight, judgment (or judgement), perception, percipience, perspicacity; common sense, horse sense, mother wit; aptitude, talent; sagacity, sapience, wisdom, wit; head, mind, skull

Near Antonyms

denseness, density, doltishness, dopiness, dullness (also dulness), dumbness, fatuity, feeblemindedness, foolishness, half-wittedness, idiocy, imbecility, senselessness, simpleness, slowness, stupidity

Rhymes with GRAY MATTER

back matter, backscatter, bespatter, dark matter, flat-hatter, front matter, no matter, standpatter, the matter, white matter, wildcatter

gray matter

noun    (Medical Dictionary)

Medical Definition of GRAY MATTER

: neural tissue especially of the brain and spinal cord that contains cell bodies as well as nerve fibers, has a brownish gray color, and forms most of the cortex and nuclei of the brain, the columns of the spinal cord, and the bodies of ganglia—called also gray substance