Knee-jerky
Origin
en + -knee-jerk + y
Full definition of knee-jerky
Adjective
knee-jerky
- (informal) Exhibiting or characteristic of a rash or automatic response.
- 1991, Gordon Rogoff, American Theatre, Volume 8, page 224:Could you please resolve to control your knee-jerky impulse to give every Tom, Dick, and Harry (Kupfer?) a standing ovation?
- 2003, Paul McNamara, "Bet on the Internet winning this one", Network World, Volume 20, Number 19, 12 May 2003, page 64:Despite possessing a libertarian streak that's widening overtime, Buzz doesn't get all knee-jerky in opposing new government regulation, even when politicians start messing with the Internet.
- 2006, Carl H. Klaus, Letters to Kate: Life After Life, University of Iowa Press (2006), , pages 125-126:Yet when Carol called, my immediate reaction — “How sad†or words to that effect — was so inappropriate, so knee-jerky, that I'm embarrassed to report it.