automatic reflex
Unthinking bodily reaction
An automatic reflex is a bodily response that happens without conscious control—your hand jerking from a hot stove, your knee kicking when the doctor taps it.
The phrase is technically redundant since reflexes are by definition automatic, but it emphasizes the involuntary nature: It was an automatic reflex; I didn't even think about it.
- involuntaryNot under conscious control
- instinctInnate behavioral tendency
- gut reactionImmediate unthinking feeling
- fight or flightThreat-triggered physiological state
- twitchInvoluntary muscular jerk
flinch · blink · blink of an eye · jerk · knee-jerk · knee jerk reaction · startle · reaction · split second · muscle · muscle memory · spinal · nervous system · unconscious · spontaneous · wince · recoil · hard wired
automatic reflexdeliberation
Careful weighing of choices
measured response · analytical thinking · cognitive processing · delayed response
automatic, reflex, automatically, automation, automate, automated, automating, automaton, auto