Convulse

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /kənˈvʌls/

Definitions

1. To be affected by sudden, intense muscle contractions that lead to shaking
2. To experience sudden, forceful muscle contractions causing uncontrollable shaking ; to make someone or something shake with violent, involuntary movements
3. To have abrupt, intense spasms of muscles resulting in shaking ; to induce rapid and uncontrollable shaking in a person or object

Etymology: The verb "convulse" comes from the Latin "convulsus," the past participle of "convellere," meaning to pluck up, dislocate, or tear apart. The Latin word combines "com-," meaning "together," with "vellere," meaning to pluck or pull. Picture several things being wrenched and yanked together, and you have the physical core of the idea. That physical sense of violent pulling and tearing is what the English word carried first. Over time it shifted toward the image of the body being wrenched by involuntary jerks, which is the spasm sense we use today. The same Latin root also gave English "convel," a near-identical word that came in by a separate route, which makes "convulse" and "convel" a doublet, two forms of one ancestor that entered the language at different times.

Synonyms: shake, tremble, spasm, jerk

Antonyms: calm, still