convulse
To suffer violent involuntary contractions of the muscles, causing one's body to contortTo suffer violent involuntary contractions of the muscles, causing one's body to contort.
» His whole body seemed uncontrollably convulsing.
Meaning
4 senses(intransitive)To suffer violent involuntary contractions of the muscles, causing one's body to contort.
(figuratively, intransitive)To be beset by political or social upheaval.
(transitive)To cause (someone) to suffer such contractions, especially as a result of making them laugh heartily.
(transitive)To cause disruption to.
cause to contract
Examples
9 sentencesHis whole body seemed uncontrollably convulsing.
He’s convulsing wildly on the ground.
Rodrigo convulsed on the floor and died.
A cruel mental illness befell me, and convulsed my brain quite horribly.
deEine grausame Geisteskrankheit befiel mich und sie erschütterte ganz fürchterlich mein Hirn.
She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were dreadfully convulsed.
Translations
5 languagesBy meaning 1
Origin
From Latin convulsus, past participle of convellere (“to pluck up, dislocate, convulse”),From Latin convulsus, past participle of convellere (“to pluck up, dislocate, convulse”), from com- (“together”) + vellere (“to pluck, pull”). Doublet of convel.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
convulses, convulsing, convulsed, convulsedSynonyms
7 synonyms- move or stir about violently:threshthresh aboutthrashthrash aboutslashtossjactitate
Word family
5 related wordsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle