reaction time

American

noun

Psychology.

the interval between stimulation and response.

reaction time British

noun

physiol another name for latent time

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of reaction time

First recorded in 1875–80

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Some also completed cognitive tests measuring memory and reaction time.

From Science Daily

Thoughts drift, reaction times slow, and mental clarity fades when attention is needed most.

From Science Daily

While Singapore-based Sharpa already offers a convincing humanoid table tennis robot with a reaction time of just two hundredths of a second, there is no equivalent on the market for tennis.

From Barron's

The maneuver that prompted Mosaic’s spat with Eurex can improve reaction times by about 3.2 nanoseconds, according to the French firm, which calls it “corrupted speculative triggering,” or CST for short.

From The Wall Street Journal

"The Environment Agency must act now, not in months or years, which is their usual reaction time."

From BBC

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023