spasmodic


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Related to spasmodic: Spasmodic croup, Spasmodic torticollis

spas·mod·ic

 (spăz-mŏd′ĭk)
adj.
1. Relating to, affected by, or having the character of a spasm; convulsive.
2. Happening intermittently; fitful: spasmodic rifle fire.
3. Given to sudden outbursts of energy or feeling; excitable.

[New Latin spasmōdicus, from Greek spasmōdēs, from spasmos, spasm; see spasm.]

spas·mod′i·cal·ly adv.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

spasmodic

(spæzˈmɒdɪk) or rarely

spasmodical

adj
1. taking place in sudden brief spells
2. (Pathology) of or characterized by spasms
[C17: New Latin, from Greek spasmos a spasm]
spasˈmodically adv
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

spas•mod•ic

(spæzˈmɒd ɪk)

also spas•mod′i•cal,



adj.
1. pertaining to or of the nature of a spasm; characterized by spasms.
2. resembling a spasm; sudden but brief; sporadic: spasmodic efforts at reform.
3. given to or characterized by bursts of excitement.
[1675–85; < Medieval Latin spasmodicus < Greek spasmṓd(ēs) spasmodic (derivative of spasmós spasm; see -ode1) + Latin -icus -ic]
spas•mod′i•cal•ly, adv.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Adj.1.spasmodic - affected by involuntary jerky muscular contractions; resembling a spasm; "convulsive motions"; "his body made a spasmodic jerk"; "spastic movements"
unsteady - subject to change or variation; "her unsteady walk"; "his hand was unsteady as he poured the wine"; "an unsteady voice"
2.spasmodic - occurring in spells and often abruptly; "fitful bursts of energy"; "spasmodic rifle fire"
sporadic - recurring in scattered and irregular or unpredictable instances; "a city subjected to sporadic bombing raids"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

spasmodic

adjective sporadic, irregular, erratic, intermittent, jerky, fitful, convulsive My husband's work was so spasmodic.
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002
Translations

spasmodic

[spæzˈmɒdɪk] ADJ
1. (Med) → espasmódico
2. (= intermittent) → irregular, intermitente
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

spasmodic

[spæzˈmɒdɪk] adj [sobs] → spasmodique; [interest, fighting, activity] → sporadique
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

spasmodic

adj (Med) → krampfartig, spasmisch, spasmodisch (spec); (fig: = occasional) → sporadisch; growthschubweise; his generosity was spasmodicer hatte Phasen or Anfälle von Großzügigkeit
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

spasmodic

[spæzˈmɒdɪk] adj (Med) → spasmodico/a (fig) (growth) → irregolare
she made spasmodic attempts to give up smoking → ha tentato più volte di smettere di fumare
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

spasmodic

adj espasmódico
English-Spanish/Spanish-English Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2006 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
References in classic literature ?
With a tired sigh, and with an impulsive movement all her own, unpremeditated, spasmodic, she rested her head upon his breast.
But so far was she from being, in the words of Robert South, "in love with her own ruin," that the illusion was transient as lightning; cold reason came back to mock her spasmodic weakness; the ghastliness of her momentary pride would convict her, and recall her to reserved listlessness again.
As he watches the spasmodic shoots and darts that break out of her face and limbs, like fitful lightning out of a dark sky, some contagion in them seizes upon him: insomuch that he has to withdraw himself to a lean arm-chair by the hearth--placed there, perhaps, for such emergencies--and to sit in it, holding tight, until he has got the better of this unclean spirit of imitation.
`That,' said a very young man, making spasmodic efforts to relight his cigar over the lamp; `that .
During the most violent shocks of the Typhoon, the man at the Pequod's jaw-bone tiller had several times been reelingly hurled to the deck by its spasmodic motions, even though preventer tackles had been attached to it --for they were slack -- because some play to the tiller was indispensable.
Or in some narrow pathway, glancing with a transitory daring into the eyes of some lithe, white-swathed female figure, I would suddenly see (with a spasmodic revulsion) that she had slit-like pupils, or glancing down note the curving nail with which she held her shapeless wrap about her.
There could be seen spasmodic gulpings at his throat.
More and more weakly the torn and bleeding arm struck home with the long sharp blade, then the little figure stiffened with a spasmodic jerk, and Tarzan, the young Lord Greystoke, rolled unconscious upon the dead and decaying vegetation which carpeted his jungle home.
Sounding almost all the harmonies of the modern lyre, he has, perhaps as a matter of course, some of the faults also, the "spasmodic" and other lapses, which from age to age, in successive changes of taste, have been the "defects" of excellent good "qualities." He is certainly not the--
At last Tarzan's knife found the great heart, and with a final, spasmodic struggle the lion rolled over upon the marble floor, dead.
Tulliver, even between the fits of spasmodic rigidity which had recurred at intervals ever since he had been found fallen from his horse, was usually in so apathetic a condition that the exits and entrances into his room were not felt to be of great importance.
A quick impulse that was somewhat spasmodic impelled her fingers to close in a sort of clutch upon his hand.