knee-jerk reaction

knee-jerk reaction

Any spontaneous, reflexive, and unthinking reaction or response. I know my knee-jerk reaction to the film's ending was mostly negative, but over time I've come to appreciate its subtlety and poignancy. Unsurprisingly, there has been a knee-jerk reaction from many parents to have the book banned from schools.

See also: reaction

Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2015 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

knee-jerk reaction

Fig. an automatic or reflex reaction; an immediate reaction made without examining causes or facts. With one of his typical knee-jerk reactions, he said no immediately, citing some moral argument that no one understood.

See also: reaction

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.