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synapse

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The junction across which a nerve impulse passes from an axon terminal to a neuron, muscle cell, or gland cell.
  • intransitive verb To form a synapse.
  • intransitive verb To undergo synapsis.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Same. as synapsis.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun neuroanatomy, cytology The junction between the terminal of a neuron and either another neuron or a muscle or gland cell, over which nerve impulses pass.
  • verb intransitive To form a synapse.
  • verb intransitive To undergo synapsis.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the junction between two neurons (axon-to-dendrite) or between a neuron and a muscle

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Greek sunapsis, point of contact, from sunaptein, to join together : sun-, syn- + haptein, to fasten.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek σύναψις (sunapsis, "conjunction"), from συνάπτω (sunaptō, "to clasp").

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Examples

  • By NowhereBob, January 29, 2010 @ 10: 02 am re face recognition, dodgy synapse is saying either Smithsonian Museum or Brit Museum had such.

    Cheeseburger Gothic » This way ladies, if you would care to follow me. 2010

  • The synapse is a mechanism that allows amazingly rapid communication between cells, and I don't see any major leap between co-opting an ensemble of proteins that senses the environment for sensing of signals from other cells.

    Another predictable argument against front-loading 2007

  • During the following two years I learned, with Dale Purves, that the neuromuscular synapse is also a good model for studying long-term changes in chemical and electrical excitability.

    Bert Sakmann - Autobiography 1992

  • As we saw earlier, the point where one neuron’s axon meets another neuron’s dendrite is called a synapse.

    World Wide Mind Michael chorost 2011

  • As we saw earlier, the point where one neuron’s axon meets another neuron’s dendrite is called a synapse.

    World Wide Mind Michael chorost 2011

  • It’s like the magic sword, a grunt’s Excalibur: all you do is move that finger so imperceptibly just a wish flashing across your mind like a shadow, not even a full brain synapse, and I poof in a blast of sound and energy and light a truck or a house or even people disappear, everything flying and settling back into dust.

    Bush Rules 2007

  • Mind the gap, the place where your nerve cells communicate known as the synapse.

    Dharma Singh Khalsa, M.D.: Is Any Memory Loss Normal With Age? M.D. Dharma Singh Khalsa 2011

  • Mind the gap, the place where your nerve cells communicate known as the synapse.

    Dharma Singh Khalsa, M.D.: Is Any Memory Loss Normal With Age? M.D. Dharma Singh Khalsa 2011

  • Mind the gap, the place where your nerve cells communicate known as the synapse.

    Dharma Singh Khalsa, M.D.: Is Any Memory Loss Normal With Age? M.D. Dharma Singh Khalsa 2011

  • The message has to take a neurological leap of faith, if you will, by crossing the space between the two neurons, called the synapse.

    You Raising Your Child Michael F. Roizen 2010

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