Formication

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An abnormal skin sensation similar to that of insects crawling over or within the skin; a tactile hallucination involving such a sensation. A common side-effect of substance abuse, it can also be experienced with high fever, menopause, skin cancer, diabetic neuropathy, or herpes zoster. countable, uncountable

    "Soon the formications and muscular debility returned, not alone, but accompanied with painful cramps and startlings in the feet and calves of the legs."

  2. 2
    hallucinated sensation that insects or snakes are crawling over the skin; a common side-effect of extensive use of cocaine or amphetamines wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
creepscreepy-crawliescreevlesfidgetsgoose bumpsjerking

Example

More examples

"Soon the formications and muscular debility returned, not alone, but accompanied with painful cramps and startlings in the feet and calves of the legs."

Etymology

Circa 1700, from Latin formīca (“ant”) + -tion.

Related phrases

formic acidherpes zosterskin cancer

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