Word.ws English Dictionary

polyvagal

polyvagal adjective: of or relating to a theory that specifies two functionally distinct branches of the vagus, or tenth cranial nerve: a primitive branch eliciting immobilization behaviors (e.g. feigning death) and a more evolved branch linked to social communication and self-soothing behaviors.

Adjective

polyvagal (not comparable)

  1. Of or relating to a theory that specifies two functionally distinct branches of the vagus, or tenth cranial nerve: a primitive branch eliciting immobilization behaviors (e.g. feigning death) and a more evolved branch linked to social communication and self-soothing behaviors.

Origin of polyvagal

From poly- + vagal.

Questions about polyvagal

What does polyvagal mean?
Polyvagal means of or relating to a theory that specifies two functionally distinct branches of the vagus, or tenth cranial nerve: a primitive branch eliciting immobilization behaviors (e.g. feigning death) and a more evolved branch linked to social communication and self-soothing behaviors.
What part of speech is polyvagal?
Polyvagal is an adjective.

Words near polyvagal in the dictionary

  1. polyuronide
  2. polyuronides
  3. polyvaccine
  4. polyvaccines
  5. polyvacuolar
  6. polyvagal
  7. polyvalence
  8. polyvalences
  9. polyvalencies
  10. polyvalency
  11. polyvalent

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: polyvagal (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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