paroxysm
Part of speech: noun
Morphological type: derivation
Topics: geography
geology
medicine
natural-sciences
sciences
Etymology: From Late Middle English paroxism, paroxisme (“period of worsening of a disease, attack; sudden recurrent fever”), from Middle French paroxisme, paroxysme, and Old French peroxime (“period of worsening of a disease; bout of fever or illness”) (modern French paroxysme), and from their etymon Late Latin paroxismus, paroxysmus (“a fit; onset of a disease; violent impulse or sadness”), from Ancient Greek πᾰροξῠσμός (păroxŭsmós, “exasperation, irritation; severe fit of a disease”), from πᾰροξῡ́νω (păroxū́nō, “to irritate, provoke”) (from παρα- (para-, prefix meaning ‘parallel to but separate from or going beyond, beside’) + ὀξῡ́νω (oxū́nō, “to provoke; to sharpen”) (from ὀξῠ́ς (oxŭ́s, “sharp”), probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- (“sharp”))) + -μός (-mós, suffix forming abstract nouns). By surface analysis, para- + oxy- + -ism.
Inflected forms:
form: paroxysms
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: paroxism
pos: noun
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: A period (especially one of several recurring periods) during the course of an illness when symptoms worsen; a sudden attack of a disease symptom, such as a bout of coughing or a seizure.
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: Againe; I feare a paroxiſme.
For, Sir, though Ireland is always combustible, Ireland is not always on fire. We must distinguish between the chronic complaints which are to be attributed to remote causes, and the acute attack which is brought on by recent imprudence. For though there is always a predisposition to disease in that unhappy society, the violent paroxysms come only at intervals.
His malady proved to be a softening of the spinal marrow: it was incurable; it made rapid progress. […] [A]ll this, and suffering, besides this, at short intervals, paroxysms of nervous agony.
The slightest effort made the patient cough. He would stand leaning on a stick and holding a hand to his side, and when the paroxysm had passed it left him shaking.
gloss: Chiefly followed by of: a sudden outburst of violent activity or feeling; also, the most severe part of an activity or incident; the climax.
pos: noun
tags: broadly
countable
examples: [H]ere vve may take occaſion, to mention the miſerable condition of the Iſraelites in Egypt, during vvhich time, vvoefull their ſlavery, if vve conſider, the […] Long continuance thereof, tvvo hundred and odde years in the latitude, and fourſcore (from the birth of Moſes) in the Paroxyſme of their bondage.
[I]n his Paroxyſms, as he vvalked the Streets, he vvould have his Pockets loaden vvith Stones, to pelt at the Signs.
If prevented by force, the screams she sometimes uttered in her paroxysms of rage were fearful, and must inevitably be heard.
Her doubts and terrors reached their paroxysm; and the poor girl, who for many hours had been plunged into stupor, raved and ran hither and thither in hysteric insanity—a piteous sight.
These chants are taken up, more or less, by the audience; sometimes they flag and die away for want of support, sometimes they are continued till they reach a paroxysm, and then abruptly stop.
Unable to turn his back on the fanged danger and go on, the bull would be driven into paroxysms of rage.
There, on the soft sand, a few feet away from our elders, we would sprawl all morning, in a petrified paroxysm of desire, and take advantage of every blessed quirk in space and time to touch each other: […]
He was capable of mighty paroxysms of righteous indignation, and he was indignant as could be when he learned that a C.I.D. man was in the area looking for him.
Indeed in his excitement at this breakthrough he inadvertently dug his nails into the nurse's bottom, a gesture she misinterpreted, so that he had to suffer a paroxysm of breasts and loins in response.
The Russian soldier left a trail of blood and devastated lives in a last paroxysm of violence only hours before Russian troops began withdrawing.
gloss: An outburst of a violent argument or disagreement.
pos: noun
tags: archaic
broadly
countable
examples: But the greateſt contention happening here, vvas that Paroxyſme betvvixt Paul and Barnabas, the one as earneſtly refuſing, as the other deſiring the company of John Mark to goe along vvith them.
By the vvay, it muſt not be forgotten, that in the very midſt of the Paroxiſme betvvixt [Richard] Hooker and [Walter] Travers, the latter ſtil bare (and none can challenge the other to the contrary) a reverend eſteem of his adverſary.
[A]n election was at hand, which, it was expected, would throw the whole country into a paroxysm.
The passions which inflame us, the sophisms which delude us, will not last for ever. The paroxysms of faction have their appointed season.
gloss: A violent occurrence of a natural phenomenon, such as an earthquake, thunderstorm, or volcanic eruption; specifically (volcanology), the most explosive event during a series of volcanic eruptions.
pos: noun
tags: broadly
countable
examples: [T]he Storm had ſeven Paroxyſms or Exacerbations, vvhich the Seamen call Frights of VVeather, […]
[W]ith paroxiſms of ſtrange diſmay / Th' amazed Heav'ns ſtood ſtill, Earth's baſis ſhook, / The troubled Ocean roard, the ſtartled Air / In hollovv grones profoundly breath'd its fear.
gloss: Disastrous or sudden change.
pos: noun
tags: broadly
rare
uncountable
examples: It is manifest that the species themselves are but transmutations of one or a few primordial types, and that they have been created not by paroxysm, but by evolution.
Catastrophists argued that most geological change occurred in rare episodes of truly global paroxysm, marked by the "usual suspects" of volcanism, mountain building, earthquakes, and flooding.
Related words: oxymoron
exacerbation
Derived words: hyperparoxysm
interparoxysmal
paroxysmal
paroxysmally
paroxysmic
paroxysmist
postparoxysmal
preparoxysmal
Translations: