paralysis
/pəˈɹæləsəs/ noun
Forms paralyses
- noun (pathology) The complete loss of voluntary control of part of a living body, such as one or more limbs.
- noun A state of being unable to act. “The government has been in a paralysis since it lost its majority in the parliament.”
Synonyms
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin paralysis, from Ancient Greek παράλυσις (parálusis, “palsy”), from παραλύω (paralúō, “to disable on one side”). By surface analysis, para- + -lysis. Doublet of palsy.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Abolition of function, whether complete or partial; esp., the loss of the power of voluntary motion, with or without that of sensation, in any part of the body; palsy. See Hemiplegia, and Paraplegia. Also used figuratively. "Utter paralysis of memory." G. Eliot.
Etymology [L., fr. Gr. Para-, and Loose, and cf. Palsy.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “paralysis”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details