knee-jerk reaction
Unthinking immediate response
A knee-jerk reaction is an automatic, unthinking response—like the reflex when a doctor taps your knee.
The phrase is almost always critical, implying someone acted without considering the situation: His knee-jerk reaction was to blame the media.
Often shortened to just knee-jerk as an adjective: a knee-jerk response to criticism.
- reflexInvoluntary stimulus response
- unthinkingLacking conscious thought
- conditionedTaught automatic responses
- impulseSudden urge to act
- instinctInnate behavioral tendency
knee-jerk response · automaticity · rashness · snap judgment · snap decision · jumping to conclusions · thoughtlessness · confirmation bias · stereotyping · habitual · outrage · spontaneous · unexamined · emotional reasoning · stimulus-response · fight or flight · trigger · hair trigger
- improvisationimprovised, impromptu, ad lib, freestyle, ad-lib
- impulsive actionsspur of the moment, on a whim, snap decision, rush in, heat of the moment
- impulsivityimpulsiveness, impulsivity, rashness, recklessness, hastiness
- reactionsresponse, gasp, wince, flinch, startle
- acting too soonjumping the gun, rushing, hasty decision, false start, impatience
- overreactionsmeltdown, tantrum, hissy fit, freakout, freak-out
knee-jerk reactionmeasured response
Controlled, proportional reply
informed decision · deliberation · sleeping on it · slow burn · due diligence
reaction, kneecap, jerked, reactionary, reactions, reactive, jerking, reactivity, knee-high