apoplexy
/'æpəpleksi/
Definition
- Noun:
- A sudden loss of consciousness resulting when the rupture or occlusion of a blood vessel leads to oxygen lack in the brain: A medical condition, often a stroke, characterized by a sudden impairment of neurological function due to a cerebrovascular event.
Examples of Usage
- Noun:
- The patient was rushed to the hospital after suffering an apoplexy.
- In historical texts, the term apoplexy was commonly used to describe what we now call a stroke.
Advanced Usage
- "to be seized with apoplexy": To be suddenly and severely affected by a stroke.
- The old man was seized with apoplexy and fell to the floor.
- "apoplectic" (adjective): Pertaining to, suffering from, or causing apoplexy; or, figuratively, extremely angry.
- He was apoplectic with rage when he heard the news. (Figurative usage meaning extremely angry.)
Variants and Related Words
- Apoplectic (adj):
- Relating to or suffering from apoplexy.
- The doctor identified apoplectic symptoms.
- Overcome with anger; extremely indignant.
- Her apoplectic response shocked everyone in the room.
- Cerebrovascular Accident (CVA) (n): The modern medical term for a stroke, synonymous with apoplexy in its medical sense.
Synonyms
- Stroke (n): The most common contemporary synonym for the medical condition.
- Cerebrovascular accident (CVA) (n): The formal medical term.
- Brain attack (n): An informal term used to emphasize the suddenness, similar to a heart attack.
Related Phrases
- "to have a fit of apoplexy": An older phrase meaning to suffer a stroke; sometimes used hyperbolically to mean a fit of extreme anger.
- Upon reading the letter, he nearly had a fit of apoplexy.
Notes on Meaning
- Historical vs. Modern Usage: While "apoplexy" is a precise and still-understood medical term, it is considered somewhat archaic in everyday clinical language, where "stroke" or "CVA" are preferred. Its figurative use to describe extreme anger remains in literary and hyperbolic contexts.
- Specificity: The term specifically implies a sudden onset and is caused by hemorrhage (rupture) or ischemia (occlusion) of brain blood vessels.
Noun
-
a sudden loss of consciousness resulting when the rupture or occlusion of a blood vessel leads to oxygen lack in the brain
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