| Library / English Dictionary |
GRAY MATTER
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Greyish nervous tissue containing cell bodies as well as fibers; forms the cerebral cortex consisting of unmyelinated neurons
Synonyms:
gray matter; gray substance; grey matter; grey substance; substantia grisea
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("gray matter" is a kind of...):
nerve tissue; nervous tissue (tissue composed of neurons)
Meronyms (substance of "gray matter"):
neuropil; neuropile (the complex network of unmyelinated axones, dendrites, and glial branches that form the bulk of the central nervous system's grey matter and in which nerve cell bodies are embedded)
Holonyms ("gray matter" is a substance of...):
cerebral cortex; cerebral mantle; cortex; pallium (the layer of unmyelinated neurons (the grey matter) forming the cortex of the cerebrum)
Context examples:
A large, cone-shaped area of gray matter within the basal ganglia comprised of the globus pallidus and putamen that is surrounded primarily by the caudate nucleus and the thalamus.
(Lenticular Nucleus, NCI Thesaurus)
This study shows that chronic high blood sugar levels may slow growth in the brain’s gray matter, which affects cells and signals, as well as in the brain’s white matter, which affects the brain’s wiring.
(Chronic high blood sugar may be detrimental to the developing brain of young children, NIH)
A layer of gray matter lying along the floor of the lateral ventricle of the brain, comprised of cholinergic and possibly glutamatergic fibers, believed to be the critical brain structure underlying learning and memory.
(Hippocampus, NIH CRISP Thesaurus)
