sympathetics
Saysim-puh-THET-iks/ˌsɪm.pəˈθɛt.ɪks/
- 1Plural of sympathetic.
The surgeon carefully traced the sympathetics running alongside the spinal column.
Damage to the sympathetics in the neck can make one eyelid droop.
Note
An anatomist's plural: the noun sympathetic names a sympathetic nerve, so sympathetics are the nerve fibers of the sympathetic system, part of the autonomic nervous system. The everyday senses of feeling, approval and likability belong only to the adjective, which takes no plural. Only the nerve sense works as a countable noun, so sympathetics always points to anatomy.
sympathetics is a form of sympathetic
sympathetic, noun: A nerve of the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system. Full entry
- Forms
- sympatheticsympathetics plural
- Spelling
- sympathetic → sympathetics: add -s
- Sound
- The ending sounds like /s/.
Use it in a sentence
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