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”). Analyzable as para- +‎ oxy- +‎ -ism.

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpæ.ɹək.ˌsɪ.zəm/

• Audio (Southern England)

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paroxysm (plural paroxysms)

1. A random or sudden outburst (of activity).
   • 1704, [Jonathan Swift], “Section XI. A Tale of a Tub.”, in A Tale of a Tub. […], London: […] John Nutt, […], →OCLC, pages 203–204:

     [I]n his Paroxyſms, as he vvalked the Streets, he vvould have his Pockets loaden vvith Stones, to pelt at the Signs.

   • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter IV, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 70:

     If prevented by force, the screams she sometimes uttered in her paroxysms of rage were fearful, and must inevitably be heard.

   • 1903 July, Jack London, “The Sounding of the Call”, in The Call of the Wild, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, page 212:

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

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     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, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, published August 1958, →OCLC, part 1, page 14:

     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: […]

   • 1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “McWatt”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 61:

     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.

   • 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.

   • 2022 December 31, Carlotta Gall, Oleksandr Chubko, “In Bucha, a Final Rampage Served as a Coda to a Month of Atrocities”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     The Russian soldier left a trail of blood and devastated lives in a last paroxysm of violence only hours before Russian troops began withdrawing.

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

• fit

• paroxysmal

• oxymoron

• “paroxysm”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “paroxysm”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “paroxysm”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.