Convulsion

//kənˈvʌlʃən// noun

noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An intense, paroxysmal, involuntary muscular contraction.

    "1850-1859, Charles Dickens, Household Words That immortal creature had gone over the proofs with great pains — had of course taken out the stiflings — hard-plungings, lungeings, and other convulsions — and had also taken out her weakenings and damagings of her own effects."

  2. 2
    a physical disturbance such as an earthquake or upheaval wordnet
  3. 3
    An uncontrolled fit, as of laughter; a paroxysm.
  4. 4
    a violent disturbance wordnet
  5. 5
    Violent turmoil.

    "Earthquakes and convulsions of nature shake Earth on a regular basis."

Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    violent uncontrollable contractions of muscles wordnet
  2. 7
    Hysteric in nature.
  3. 8
    a sudden uncontrollable attack wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
paroxysmabdominal epilepsyabscessaccessacquired epilepsyactivated epilepsy

Example

More examples

"Convulsion followed convulsion, till they closed in death, without her being able to utter a word explanatory of the fatal scene."

Etymology

From Latin convulsiō, from convellō.

Related phrases

post-micturition convulsion syndrome

More for "convulsion"

SynonymsSentencesPronunciationTranslate

Next best steps

Find stronger synonymsSee usage examplesCheck pronunciationBrowse writing guides

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