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Unthinking reaction of strangely keen fool
Answer for the clue "Unthinking reaction of strangely keen fool ", 9 letters:
knee-jerk
Alternative clues for the word knee-jerk
Word definitions for knee-jerk in dictionaries
Wiktionary
Word definitions in Wiktionary
a. automatic, spontaneous, easily predictable n. A sudden reflexive movement of the leg below the knee, as a reaction to a tap to the tendon just below the patella (kneecap).
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Word definitions in Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
patellar reflex, neurological phenomenon discovered and named 1876; the figurative use appeared soon after the phrase was coined.
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Word definitions in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
adjective COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES a knee-jerk reaction (= an immediate reaction that happens without sensible thinking ) ▪ Environmentalists have a knee-jerk reaction against any development.
Usage examples of knee-jerk.
Cummings boy, who was also under a knee-jerk sentence of death already, according to Medinan representatives.
She'd actually had the gall to tell him his rejection of the Weapons Development Board's new proposals was just as knee-jerk and automatic as the autoresponse pattern in favor of any new proposal which he'd always loathed in the jeune ecole.
She’d actually had the gall to tell him his rejection of the Weapons Development Board’s new proposals was just as knee-jerk and automatic as the autoresponse pattern in favor of any new proposal which he’d always loathed in the jeune ecole.
I was now ready to admit that there had been something more than a lingering knee-jerk reflex of the affection response operating in me.
This is basically a reflex arc, like the knee-jerk, although involving rather more complex circuitry.
He was closest in age to her—the one Skelly kid who didn't have that infamous knee-jerk temper and that smart-mouthed impatience.
A small part of his mind kept telling him that it was all chemical softeners and bullshit, that what the computer had been saying to him was knee-jerk nonsense, but he couldn't help himself.