paroxysm
/ˈpɛɹəkˌsɪzəm/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.75 in modern English
22
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
4
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A period (especially one of several recurring periods) during the course of an illness when symptoms worsen; a sudden attack of a disease symptom, such as a bout of coughing or a seizure.
Countable
noun
Chiefly followed by of: a sudden outburst of violent activity or feeling; also, the most severe part of an activity or incident; the climax.
Countable
noun
A violent occurrence of a natural phenomenon, such as an earthquake, thunderstorm, or volcanic eruption; specifically (volcanology), the most explosive event during a series of volcanic eruptions.
Countable
Example Sentences
- "Againe; I feare a paroxiſme."
- "For, Sir, though Ireland is always combustible, Ireland is not always on fire. We must distinguish between the chronic complaints which are to be attributed to remote causes, and the acute attack which is brought on by recent imprudence. For though there is always a predisposition to disease in that unhappy society, the violent paroxysms come only at intervals."
- "His malady proved to be a softening of the spinal marrow: it was incurable; it made rapid progress. […] [A]ll this, and suffering, besides this, at short intervals, paroxysms of nervous agony."
- "The slightest effort made the patient cough. He would stand leaning on a stick and holding a hand to his side, and when the paroxysm had passed it left him shaking."
- "[H]ere vve may take occaſion, to mention the miſerable condition of the Iſraelites in Egypt, during vvhich time, vvoefull their ſlavery, if vve conſider, the […] Long continuance thereof, tvvo hundred and odde years in the latitude, and fourſcore (from the birth of Moſes) in the Paroxyſme of their bondage."
- "[I]n his Paroxyſms, as he vvalked the Streets, he vvould have his Pockets loaden vvith Stones, to pelt at the Signs."
Etymology
From Late Middle English paroxism, paroxisme (“period of worsening of a disease, attack; sudden recurrent fever”), from Middle French paroxisme, paroxysme, and Old French peroxime (“period of worsening of a disease; bout of fever or illness”) (modern French paroxysme), and from their etymon Late Latin paroxismus, paroxysmus (“a fit; onset of a disease; violent impulse or sadness”), from Ancient Greek πᾰροξῠσμός (păroxŭsmós, “exasperation, irritation; severe fit of a disease”), from πᾰροξῡ́νω (păroxū́nō, “to irritate, provoke”) (from παρα- (para-, prefix meaning ‘parallel to but separate from or going beyond, beside’) + ὀξῡ́νω (oxū́nō, “to provoke; to sharpen”) (from ὀξῠ́ς (oxŭ́s, “sharp”), probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- (“sharp”))) + -μός (-mós, suffix forming abstract nouns). By surface analysis, para- + oxy- + -ism.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈpɛɹəkˌsɪzəm/
- British English: /ˈpæɹəksɪz(ə)m/
Usage
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
hyperparoxysm
interparoxysmal
paroxysmal
paroxysmally
paroxysmic
paroxysmist
postparoxysmal
preparoxysmal