GRAY SUBSTANCE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does gray substance mean? 

• GRAY SUBSTANCE (noun)
  The noun GRAY SUBSTANCE has 1 sense:

1. greyish nervous tissue containing cell bodies as well as fibers; forms the cerebral cortex consisting of unmyelinated neurons

  Familiarity information: GRAY SUBSTANCE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GRAY SUBSTANCE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Greyish nervous tissue containing cell bodies as well as fibers; forms the cerebral cortex consisting of unmyelinated neurons

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Synonyms:

gray matter; gray substance; grey matter; grey substance; substantia grisea

Hypernyms ("gray substance" is a kind of...):

nerve tissue; nervous tissue (tissue composed of neurons)

Meronyms (substance of "gray substance"):

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)

Holonyms ("gray substance" is a substance of...):

cerebral cortex; cerebral mantle; cortex; pallium (the layer of unmyelinated neurons (the grey matter) forming the cortex of the cerebrum)

 Context examples 

The gray substance is made up of the caudate nucleus and the lentiform nucleus.

(Corpus Striatum, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)