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gray matter
noun
- Anatomy. nerve tissue, especially of the brain and spinal cord, that contains fibers and nerve cell bodies and is dark reddish-gray. Compare white matter.
- Informal. brains or intellect.
gray matter
- The brownish-gray tissue of the vertebrate brain and spinal cord, made up chiefly of the cell bodies and dendrites of neurons.
- Compare white matter
˜yÐÄvlog History and Origins
Origin of gray matter1
Idioms and Phrases
Brains, intellect, as in If you'd only use your gray matter, you'd see the answer in a minute . This expression refers to actual brain tissue that is gray in color. Agatha Christie's fictional detective, Hercule Poirot, constantly alludes to using the little gray cells for solving a crime. [Late 1800s]Compare Meanings
How does gray matter compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Example Sentences
Neuroscientists typically ascribe consciousness and abstract thought to the cerebral cortex, which evolved later in human evolution and wraps around the brain's outer layer in folded gray matter.
The results showed that lower pulmonary gas exchange may be associated with cognitive dysfunction, as well as lower gray matter and white matter volumes in patients with long COVID.
AFM attacks motor neurons in the spinal cord’s gray matter, which controls movement.
It revealed that individuals who reported watching sports more frequently exhibited greater gray matter volume in regions associated with reward circuits, suggesting that regular sports viewing may gradually induce changes in brain structures.
But, more importantly, it is the millions of his rabid fans, missing gray matter and in possession of copious amounts of firearms, who are a greater concern.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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