The AI-powered English dictionary
comparative more knee-jerk, superlative most knee-jerk
Unthinking, not carefully considered, (nearly) automatic, spontaneous, easily predictable. quotations examples
There were knee-jerk demands from trade unions for immediate withdrawal of all HSTs; these were wrong-headed.
2022 March 23, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Drains, trains and Control”, in RAIL, number 953, page 3
The knee-jerk reaction is further evidence of just how panicked investors are about the stability of the global financial system after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank last week.
2023 March 15, Michael J. de la Merced, Maureen Farrell, “Credit Suisse to Borrow Up to $54 Billion From Central Bank”, in The New York Times
plural knee-jerks
A sudden reflexive movement of the leg below the knee, as a reaction to a tap to the tendon just below the patella (kneecap). examples