• Knee-jerkish

    Origin

    en + -knee-jerk + ish

    Full definition of knee-jerkish

    Adjective

    knee-jerkish

    1. (informal) Exhibiting or characteristic of a rash or automatic response.
      • 1990, Kurdistan Times, Issues 1-3, page 230:Thus to judge their heart-felt reactions, some of which may look "knee-jerkish" at times, without taking into account their past bitter experiences, their present insecurities, or their dreams would be presumptuous, to say the least.
      • 2001, Terry Osborne, Sightlines: The View of a Valley Through the Voice of Depression, University Press of New England (2001), , page 39:It seemed a little knee-jerkish anyway, too obvious for the neighbor across the street to do, and a little too much like adolescent vandalism for my own conscience.
      • 2006, The Oriental Economist Report, Volumes 74-75, page 91:Fukuda cares deeply about policy issues. He worries that Abe is a bit shallow on policy matters, and a bit knee-jerkish in his populism.

    Synonyms

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