central nervous system

central nervous system

n. Abbr. CNS

The portion of the vertebrate nervous system consisting of the brain and spinal cord.

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central nervous system

Noun

the part of the nervous system of vertebrates that consists of the brain and spinal cord

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central nervous system

The part of the nervous system in vertebrate animals that consists of the brain and spinal cord. Compare peripheral nervous system.

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

central nervous system - the portion of the vertebrate nervous system consisting of the brain and spinal cord CNS, systema nervosum centrale system - a group of physiologically or anatomically related organs or parts; "the body has a system of organs for digestion" nervous system, systema nervosum - the sensory and control apparatus consisting of a network of nerve cells glia, neuroglia - sustentacular tissue that surrounds and supports neurons in the central nervous system; glial and neural cells together compose the tissue of the central nervous system brain, encephalon - that part of the central nervous system that includes all the higher nervous centers; enclosed within the skull; continuous with the spinal cord substantia alba, white matter - whitish nervous tissue of the CNS consisting of neurons and their myelin sheaths corticospinal tract, pyramidal motor system, pyramidal tract - any of the important motor nerves on each side of the central nervous system that run from the sensorimotor areas of the cortex through the brainstem to motor neurons of the cranial nerve nuclei and the ventral root of the spinal cord medulla spinalis, spinal cord - a major part of the central nervous system which conducts sensory and motor nerve impulses to and from the brain; a long tubelike structure extending from the base of the brain through the vertebral canal to the upper lumbar region