Catatonia

//ˌkætəˈtoʊniə// noun, slang

noun, slang ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A severe psychiatric condition, often associated with schizophrenia, characterized by a tendency to remain in a rigid state of stupor for long periods which give way to short periods of extreme agitation. uncountable, usually
  2. 2
    a form of schizophrenia characterized by a tendency to remain in a fixed stuporous state for long periods; the catatonia may give way to short periods of extreme excitement wordnet
  3. 3
    A frozen, unresponsive state, as of electronic equipment. informal, uncountable, usually

    "“Relay that!” Thwaite shouted. Somewhere on the bridge a hand closed over a relay and dropped the AIDs into an electronic catatonia."

  4. 4
    extreme tonus; muscular rigidity; a common symptom in catatonic schizophrenia wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
abeyanceanesthesiaapathyautismblackoutcatalepsy

Example

More examples

"“Relay that!” Thwaite shouted. Somewhere on the bridge a hand closed over a relay and dropped the AIDs into an electronic catatonia."

Etymology

From international scientific vocabulary, from German Katatonie, from New Latin catatonia, from a Greek word meaning to stretch tight. By surface analysis, cata- + tone + -ia.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.