paroxysm

From French paroxysme, from Medieval Latin paroxysmus (“severe illness, fit of agony, paroxysm”), from Ancient Greek παροξυσμός (paroxusmós, “irritation, the severe fit of a disease”), from παροξύνειν (paroxúnein, “to sharpen, irritate”), from παρά (pará, “beside”) + ὀξύνειν (oxúnein, “sharpen”), from ὀξύς (oxús, “sharp”).

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpæɹ.əkˌsɪz.əm/

paroxysm (plural paroxysms)

1. A random or sudden outburst (of activity).
   • 1903, Jack London, The Call of the Wild

     Unable to turn his back on the fanged danger and go on, the bull would be driven into paroxysms of rage.

   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 23, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     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.

   • 1955, Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita

     «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 […] »

   • 1983, John Fowles, Mantissa

     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.

2. An explosive event during a volcanic eruption.
3. A sudden recurrence of a disease, such as a seizure or a coughing fit.

• paroxysmal

• paroxysm in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• paroxysm in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• paroxysm at OneLook Dictionary Search