Pavlovian is an adjective that means having a conditioned or predictable response.

Our word of the day was named after an early 20th century physiologist who engaged with experiments of conditioning. His best known experiments involved training a dog to behave in a certain way upon hearing a ringing bell. When we describe something as pavlovian, we are describing it as being automatic and predictable.

Here’s an example of pavlovian in use: After many years of working at the car wash, Eric had a pavlovian response that involved picking up a rag and wiping something whenever he heard the song ‘Night Fever.’ It came from the endless repetition of that song at his place of employment.