axon

ax·on | \ ˈak-ˌsän

How to pronounce axon (audio)

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variants: or less commonly axone \ ˈak-ˌsōn

How to pronounce axone (audio)

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Definition of axon

: a usually long and single nerve-cell process that usually conducts impulses away from the cell body — see neuron illustration

Other Words from axon Example Sentences Learn More about axon

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Examples of axon in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web In fact, this kind of skewed distribution has appeared across multiple scales in the brain — in the firing rates of neurons, in the strength of synapses, and in the conduction velocity of axons, for example. — Quanta Magazine, "In Brain’s Electrical Ripples, Markers for Memories Appear," 6 Aug. 2019 After 90 days, axons — the nerve fibers that carry neurons’ outgoing messages — had connected with host neurons. — Lacy Schley, Discover Magazine, "State of Science: Neurons Are Surprising Researchers With Unexpected Abilities," 15 Jan. 2019 In fact, there are 774 motor axons—the long fibers stretching out from neurons in the spinal cord—that control all the muscle fibers in our biceps. — R. Douglas Fields, Scientific American, "Wristband Lets the Brain Control a Computer with a Thought and a Twitch," 27 Mar. 2018 This protein is engineered to bind to the RNA bar code so that the tag, too, is dragged along the axon. — Simon Makin, Scientific American, "“Bar Codes.” Could Trace Errant Brain Wiring in Autism and Schizophrenia," 30 Mar. 2018 Once inside a cell each virus expresses a unique 30-letter, or nucleotide, RNA sequence (a bar code consisting of the letters G, A, T, C), along with a protein that cells naturally transport along axons. — Simon Makin, Scientific American, "“Bar Codes.” Could Trace Errant Brain Wiring in Autism and Schizophrenia," 30 Mar. 2018 Its lone axon, pointing straight down, and whiskery dendritic spines, which receive signals from neighboring neurons, alone in an empty landscape: the canonical depiction of Cajal’s discovery that neurons are distinct entities. — Sharon Begley, STAT, "In ‘Beautiful Brain,’ the secrets of neurons emerge in Nobel-winning scientist’s ink and pencil drawings," 3 May 2018 In particular, the drugs appeared to fuel the growth of dendritic spines and axons, the appendages that brain cells of all sorts use to reach out in the darkness and create connections, or synapses, with other brain cells. — Melissa Healy, latimes.com, "Psychedelic drugs change brain cells in ways that could help fight depression, addiction and more," 12 June 2018 Cajal also developed the Theory of Dynamic Polarization, which poses that information flows in one direction — into a neuron’s dendrites, through its cell body, and out its axon. — Cate Mcquaid, BostonGlobe.com, "A different sort of scan in ‘The Beautiful Brain’," 6 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'axon.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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