noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The pulse.
2. 2
   a sudden occurrence (or recurrence) of a disease wordnet
3. 3
   A sudden attack, blow, stroke, or seizure, as in a sunstroke, the sting of an insect, pulsation of an artery, etc.
4. 4
   The stress of voice laid upon an accented syllable of a word. Compare arsis.
5. 5
   In conducting, the indication of a musical event, most often the beat of the tempo or the entry of a section of the orchestra.

Synonyms

All synonyms

seizureabdominal epilepsyaccentaccentuationaccessacquired epilepsy

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin ictus (“a blow”), from īco (“I hit, strike”).

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