knee-jerky

comparative more knee-jerky · superlative most knee-jerky

1. informalExhibiting or characteristic of a rash or automatic response.

   Could you please resolve to control your knee-jerky impulse to give every Tom, Dick, and Harry (Kupfer?) a standing ovation?

   1991, Gordon Rogoff, American Theatre, volume 8, page 224

   2 more examples

   Despite possessing a libertarian streak that's widening over time, Buzz doesn't get all knee-jerky in opposing new government regulation, even when politicians start messing with the Internet.

   2003 May 12, Paul McNamara, “Bet on the Internet winning this one”, in Network World, volume 20, number 19, page 64

   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.

   2006, Carl H. Klaus, Letters to Kate: Life After Life, University of Iowa Press, →ISBN, pages 125–126

   Synonyms: knee-jerkish