nerve fiber

noun

: any of the processes (such as axons or dendrites) of a neuron

Examples of nerve fiber in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Eye Surgery The incisions a doctor makes during eye surgery can irritate nerve fibers that signal the brain to make tears. — Nancy Lebrun, Verywell Health, 24 Sep. 2026

Research on bilingualism has found differences in both the brain’s gray matter, which contains neurons and their connections, and white matter, which consists largely of nerve fibers linking different parts of the brain. — Karen Stollznow, The Conversation, 18 Sep. 2026

Nature also developed myelin, the fatty sheath around nerve fibers that allows electrical signals to travel up to 100 times faster than through unmyelinated neurons. — Bratin Saha, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2026

The result is a public dataset that maps thousands of individual nerve fibers across the body. — Mary Randolph, Scientific American, 11 Aug. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1847, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for nerve fiber

• cyber
• fibre
• prescriber
• subscriber
• transcriber

Kids Definition

nerve fiber

noun

: any of the long thin parts that lead to or away from the cell body of a neuron and include axons and dendrites

Medical Definition

nerve fiber

noun

: any of the processes (as an axon or a dendrite) of a neuron