spasmodical
A patient experiences spasmodical muscle contractions during the examination.
Definition
- Adjective:
- Medicine (spasmodic): Relating to or characterized by sudden, involuntary muscular contractions or spasms.
- Irregular or intermittent: Occurring in sudden, brief, and unpredictable bursts, not continuous or steady.
- Sudden and violent: Marked by abrupt, intense, and often brief episodes.
Usage Examples
- (Involuntary muscular contractions.)
- (Irregular and unpredictable.)
- (Sudden and brief bursts.)
Advanced Usage
"spasmodical efforts": intermittent, unsteady attempts.
- His spasmodical efforts to learn the language never led to fluency. (He tried occasionally but without consistency.)
"spasmodical firing": gunfire that occurs in irregular bursts.
- The soldiers heard spasmodical firing from the distant hills. (Scattered, non-continuous shooting.)
Variants and Related Words
Spasmodic (adj): the more common spelling; same meaning.
- A spasmodic cough troubled him all night. (Sudden, repeated coughing fits.)
Spasm (n): a sudden, involuntary muscular contraction.
- A back spasm forced him to stop running. (A painful muscle contraction.)
Spasmodically (adv): in a spasmodic manner.
- The old car ran spasmodically, stalling and restarting. (Irregularly, with interruptions.)
Synonyms
- Intermittent: occurring at irregular intervals; not continuous.
- Fitful: happening in irregular, short bursts.
- Convulsive: involving sudden, violent movements (often medical).
- Erratic: unpredictable and irregular in occurrence.
Related Idioms
- By fits and starts: in short, irregular bursts of activity.
- He worked by fits and starts, never finishing anything on time. (Intermittently, with pauses.)
Usage Note
- Spasmodical is a less common variant of spasmodic. Both are adjectives, but spasmodic is the standard form in modern English, especially in medical and general contexts. Spasmodical appears occasionally in historical or technical texts.