gray matter

gray matter

n.

1. Brownish-gray nerve tissue, especially of the brain and spinal cord, composed of nerve cell bodies and their dendrites and some supportive tissue.

2. Informal Brains; intellect.

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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.

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

gray matter - greyish nervous tissue containing cell bodies as well as fibers; forms the cerebral cortex consisting of unmyelinated neurons gray substance, grey matter, grey substance, substantia grisea nerve tissue, nervous tissue - tissue composed of neurons 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 cerebral cortex, cerebral mantle, cortex, pallium - the layer of unmyelinated neurons (the grey matter) forming the cortex of the cerebrum