PARA-SYMPATHETIC

adjective Anatomy, Physiology,

pertaining to that part of the autonomic nervous system consisting of nerves and ganglia that arise from the cranial and sacral regions and function in opposition to the sympathetic system, as in inhibiting heartbeat or contracting the pupil of the eye.

Origin:
1900–05; para-¹ + sympathetic

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World English Dictionary

parasympathetic (ˌpærəˌsɪmpəˈθɛtɪk)

—*adj*
	anatomy, physiol Compare sympathetic of or relating to the division of the autonomic nervous system that acts in opposition to the sympathetic system by slowing the heartbeat, constricting the bronchi of the lungs, stimulating the smooth muscles of the digestive tract, etc

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00:10

Para-sympathetic is always a great word to know.

So is interrobang. Does it mean:

a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.

a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.

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American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

parasympathetic par·a·sym·pa·thet·ic (pār'ə-sĭm'pə-thět'ĭk)
adj.
Of, relating to, or affecting the parasympathetic nervous system.

par'a·sym'pa·thet'i·cal·ly adv.

Matching Quote

"But the nature of our civilized minds is so detached from the senses, even in the vulgar, by abstractions corresponding to all the abstract terms our languages abound in, and so refined by the art of writing, and as it were spiritualized by the use of numbers, because even the vulgar know how to count and reckon, that it is naturally beyond our power to form the vast image of this mistress called "Sympathetic Nature.""

-Giambattista Vico

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