A word is one or more sounds that in combination have a specific meaning assigned by a language. The symbolic meaning of words can be so powerful that people are willing to risk their lives for them or take the lives of others.
A nerve impulse is the relaying of a coded signal from a nerve cell to an effector (a muscle cell, a gland cell or another nerve cell) in response to a stimulus. It is the means by which a nerve cell communicates with another cell.
Example sentences containing 'nerve impulse'. Nerve impulses race up and down your body as the noise and lights of the accident intensify. Nerve impulses are picked up by probes the width of a human hair and interpreted by computers. Nerve impulses are initiated at receptor cells as a result of stimuli from the environment.