A long threadlike extension of a nerve cell that conducts electrochemical impulses away from the cell body toward other nerve cells, or toward an effector organ, such as a muscle: An axon is a prolongation of a nerve cell, similar in shape to a thread, that transmits impulses outward from the cell body.

An axon is a long fiber of a nerve cell (neuron) that acts somewhat like a fiber-optic cable to carry out-going messages.

The neuron sends electrical impulses from its cell body thorough the axon to target cells. Each nerve cell has one axon. An axon can be over a foot long.

Axons terminate in synapses, junctions with other nerve cells, muscles, or glands.