Spasm

Definition: Spasm

Spasm

Noun

1. A painful and involuntary muscular contraction.

2. (pathology) sudden constriction of a hollow organ (as a blood vessel).

Date "spasm" was first used: 1373. (references)

Etymology: Spasm \Spasm\, noun. [French expression spasme, from Latin expression spasmus, Greek, from to draw, to cause convulsion. Compare to Span, transitive verb]. (Websters 1913)

Domain	Definition
Health	An involuntary contraction of a muscle or group of muscles. Spasms may involve skeletal muscle or smooth muscle. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

A spasm is a sudden involuntary contraction of one or more muscles.

Synonyms: Spasm

Synonyms: cramp (n), muscle spasm (n). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Agitation	Spasm, throe, throb, palpitation, convulsion.
Physical Pain	Spasm, cramp; nightmare, ephialtes; crick, stitch; thrill, convulsion, throe; throb. (agitation); pang; colic; kink.
Revolution	Jump, leap, plunge, jerk, start, transilience; explosion; spasm, convulsion, throe, revulsion; storm, earthquake, cataclysm.
Violence	Severity; ferocity, rage, fury; exacerbation, exasperation, malignity; fit, paroxysm; orgasm, climax, aphrodisia; force, brute force; outrage; coup de main; strain, shock, shog; spasm, convulsion, throe; hysterics, passion; (state of excitability).
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Crosswords: Spasm

English words defined with "spasm": acrocyanosis, Angina pectoris ♦ birth pangs, blepharospasm, bronchospasm ♦ cardiospasm, Childcrowing, Clonic spasm, convulsive, crick ♦ Death throe ♦ Entasia ♦ heave, Hyperkinesis ♦ labor pains, labour pains, laryngismus ♦ myoclonus ♦ opisthotonos ♦ pang, Phantom tumor ♦ Raynaud's sign, retch, rick ♦ spasmodic, Spasmodic stricture, spastic, stitch ♦ tenesmus, throe, Tonic spasm, trismus, twitch, twitching ♦ vellication ♦ wrick, Writer of the tallies. (references)

Specialty definitions using "spasm": ANTITETANIC ♦ Benedikt syndrome, Benedikt's syndrome ♦ Chlormezanone, Chvostek sign, Chvostek's, Chvostek's sign, Coronary Vasospasm ♦ hyperkinesia ♦ scribe's palsy, scrivener's cramp, scrivener's palsy, scrivener's spasm, sistema de operação sobre disco ♦ Talma disease, tegmental mesencephalic paralysis, tegmental syndrome ♦ von Graefe spot ♦ writer's neuralgia, writer's paralysis, writers'cramp, wry neck. (references)

Etymologies containing "spasm": spastic. (references)

Non-English Usage: "Spasm" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses.

Romanian (grimace, jerk, pang, spasm, twinge), Swedish (brace, bracket, clamp, parenthesis, spasm, staple).

Domain	Title
References	The Official Patient's Sourcebook on Hemifacial Spasm (reference) (more reference examples)

Books	Europe in the spasm of system-change in the East : the pursuit of stable peace (reference) Subarachnoid hemorrhage and cerebrovascular spasm (reference) Warp Spasm (reference) (more book examples)

Music	Rhythm Spasm (reference) Spasm (reference) Spasm Smash (reference) (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Health		Sometimes the spasm delays the passage of stool, leading to constipation. (references)
		Infantile spasm (IS) is a rare seizure disorder of infancy and early childhood. (references)
		Treatment of hemifacial spasm frequently consists of botulinum-A toxin therapy. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

"Spasm" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Spasm" is used about 187 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	100%	187	22,491

Expressions using "spasm": Bronchial Spasm ♦ Clonic spasm ♦ cramp palsy or spasm ♦ Cynic spasm ♦ digestive spasm ♦ Hemifacial Spasm ♦ milker's spasm ♦ Muscle spasm ♦ Saltatory spasm ♦ scrivener's spasm ♦ sewing spasm ♦ spasm of the chest ♦ telegraphist's spasm ♦ Tonic spasm ♦ Writer's spasm. Additional references.
Hyphenated Usage
	Beginning with "spasm": spasm-scattered.
	Ending with "spasm": mid-spasm, mini-spasm, muscle-spasm.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "spasm"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		spazëm (convulsion, cramp), vrull (Ardor, ardour, burst, career, dash, drive, driving force, elan, flush, furor, fury, ginger, impetuosity, impetus, momentum, pelt, pep, pith, raciness, rage, reach, spurt, tear, tearing, thrust, vehemence, verve, vigor, vigour, vim, violence, zest, zip), hov (Ardor, ardour, burst, dash, elan, glow, hop, hunch, jerk, run up), gulç (gasp, pant, wheeze). (various references)

Arabic		‏نوبة تقلص أعصاب, ‏التشنج. (various references)

Bulgarian		спазма (grip, jerk), пристъп (accession, attack, bout, eruption, fit, go, onslaught, paroxysm, seizure, twinge), изблик (access, accession, burst, ebullience, ebulliency, ebullition, exuberance, flare, flash, flood, flush, gale, gust, outbreak, outburst, outcrop, outflow, passion, riot, rush, spate, spirt, spurt, surge, wave). (various references)

Chinese		痙 , 痉孪. (various references)

Czech		spazma, záchvat (attack, bout, burst, conniption, dose, fit, gust, onrush, outbreak, seizure), křeè (convulsion, cramp, twitch). (various references)

Danish		spasme. (various references)

Dutch		kramp (brace, bracket, clamp, convulsion, parenthesis, staple). (various references)

Esperanto		spasmo. (various references)

Faeroese		sinadráttur (convulsion). (various references)

Farsi		تشنج موضعی (Gripe), الت تشنج واضطراب , شنجه . (various references)

Finnish		nykiminen (tic, twitch), hermoväre. (various references)

French		spasme. (various references)

German		Krampf (convulsion, cramp, fit, paroxysm), Spasmus. (various references)

Greek		σπασμόσ (convulsion, cramp, fit, twitch). (various references)

Hebrew		מכוץ (contraction, cramp), שבץ (apoplexy, convulsion, fit, paralysis, seizure, stroke), פרפור (agony, convulsion, fibrillation, jerk, quiver, twitch), עוית (convulsion, throe, tic, twitch), אפיצ�" (fit), �"תקף (assault, attack, bout, fit), �"תכוצות שרירים (cramp). (various references)

Hungarian		görcs (catalepsy, convulsion, cramp, Crick, fit, gnarl, joint, kink, knot, wart). (various references)

Indonesian		kejang (convulse, convulsion, cramp, crick). (various references)

Italian		spasmo (spasms), spasma (cramp). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		発作 (fit), 激発 (fit, outburst), 引き�"�り (scar, twitch), スパイ罪 (crime of espionage, fastball, ink spattering, slowing down, spaghetti, spaghetti meat sauce, spaghetti Western, span, span of control, spangle, Spanish, Spanish America, spanner, Spartacus Games, spats, spatula, speaker, speaker unit, speech, speech therapist, speech therapy, speed, speed ball, speed limit, speed skating, speed up, speed-gun, speedometer, speedway, speedy, spot, student slang for the restaurant chain "Spaghetti Factory", thank you, wrench). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		ひきつり (cramp, scar, twitch), ほっさ (fit), スパズ� , �'きはつ (fit, outburst, percussion). (various references)

Korean		경� � (Convulsion, jerk, spastic). (various references)

Manx		teaym (attack, bout, bout of sickness, caprice, fad, fit, mood, notion, seizure, swoon, vagary, whim), raght (blaze of anger, burst, nature, orgasm, sexual climax, violent emotion, wave of emotion), lhieeney (billow, blow up, charge, charge as battery, cover in, fill, fill in, fill out, flood tide, flow, fuel, inset, load, make, make of tide, pad, rise, saturate, wax, wax as moon). (various references)

Pig Latin		asmspay

Portuguese		espasmo (cramp). (various references)

Romanian		spasm (grimace, jerk, pang, twinge), crizã (access, acme, attack, bout, climacteric, crisis, depression, fit, head, juncture, push, slump, turn), convulsie (convulsion, jerking), acces (access, accession, adit, admission, admittance, approach, convulsion, door, gust, outbreak, outburst, reach, relapse, seizure). (various references)

Russian		спазма (cramp), спазм. (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		spazam, grč (cramp, kink). (various references)

Spanish		espasmo (jerk). (various references)

Swedish		krampryckning (convulsion, twitch), kramp (cramp). (various references)

Turkish		spazm, kasılma (contraction, convulsion, hubris, jerk, rigor, rigour), ağrı (ache, affliction, discomfort, pain, smart, soreness, throe), çırpınma (clonus, convulsion, convulsive, flutter, struggle). (various references)

Ukrainian		спазма, приступ (access, accession, attack, flush, shoot). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Greek	700 BCE-300 CE	spasmos. (various references)
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	intentionum, spasmus. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "spasm": spasmodic, spasmodically, spasmolytic, spasmolytics, spasms. (additional references)
	Words ending with "spasm": blepharospasm, bronchospasm, vasospasm. (additional references)
	Words containing "spasm": antispasmodic, antispasmodics, blepharospasms, bronchospasms, vasospasms. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Spasm" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: sapm, Sbsa, shasm, Shazam, spaes, spamm, spamn, spams, spasam, spase, spasim, spass, spast, spasum, spaz, spaze, spazn, spazz, Spesh, sposh, ssasm. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "spasm" (pronounced spa"zum)
4	-a" z u m	chasm, phantasm.
3	-z u m	abolitionism, absenteeism, absolutism, activism, adventurism, agrarianism, alcoholism, altruism, amateurism, anachronism, aneurism, animism, antagonism, aphorism, astigmatism, atavism, atheism, authoritarianism, autism, baptism, barbarism, bilingualism, bolshevism, boosterism, bosom, botulism, cannibalism, capitalism, careerism, catechism, centralism, chauvinism, classicism, collectivism, colonialism, commercialism, communism, conservatism, consumerism, corporatism, counterterrorism, creationism, criticism, cronyism, cubism, cynicism, cytoplasm, dandyism, defeatism, deism, despotism, determinism, diamagnetism, diastrophism, dimorphism, dogmatism, Druidism, dualism, dwarfism, dynamism, egalitarianism, egoism, egotism, electromagnetism, elitism, embolism, emotionalism, empiricism, enthusiasm, entrepreneurialism, environmentalism, ergotism, eroticism, escapism, ethnocentrism, euphemism, evangelism, expansionism, expressionism, extremism, factionalism, fanaticism, fascism, fatalism, favoritism, federalism, feminism, ferromagnetism, fetishism, feudalism, formalism, fundamentalism, futurism, geotropism, gnosticism, gradualism, hedonism, helotism, heroism, hooliganism, humanism, hypnotism, iconoclasm, idealism, illusionism, imperialism, impressionism, incrementalism, individualism, intellectualism, internationalism, interventionism, Irredentism, ism, isolationism, isomorphism, jingoism, journalism, leftism, legalism, lesbianism, liberalism, lyricism, magnetism, mannerism, masochism, materialism, mechanism, mercantilism, mesmerism, metabolism, methodism, microcosm, microorganism, militarism, minimalism, modernism, monasticism, monetarism, monism, monotheism, moralism, multiculturalism, multilateralism, mutualism, mysticism, narcissism, nationalism, nativism, naturalism, negativism, neoplasm, nepotism, neutralism, nihilism, obstructionism, opportunism, optimism, organism, orgasm, ostracism, overoptimism, pacifism, paganism, parallelism, parkinsonism, parochialism, pastoralism, paternalism, patriotism, perfectionism, pessimism, pharisaism, pietism, plagiarism, pluralism, polymorphism, polytheism, populism, positivism, pragmatism, prism, professionalism, protectionism, provincialism, puritanism, racialism, racism, radicalism, realism, recidivism, relativism, republicanism, revisionism, rheumatism, romanticism, sadism, sarcasm, satanism, schism, sectarianism, secularism, sensationalism, separatism, sexism, skepticism, socialism, statism, stoicism, supernaturalism, surrealism, symbolism, synergism, territorialism, terrorism, theism, tokenism, totalitarianism, tourism, truism, unionism, vandalism, vegetarianism, vigilantism, voluntarism, volunteerism, voyeurism.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Direct Anagrams: samps, spams.
	Words within the letters "a-m-p-s-s"
	-1 letter: amps, asps, maps, mass, pams, pass, samp, saps, spam, spas.
	-2 letters: amp, asp, ass, map, mas, pam, pas, sap, spa.
	-3 letters: am, as, ma, pa.
	Words containing the letters "a-m-p-s-s"
	+1 letter: passim, plasms, psalms, scamps, spasms, stamps, swamps.
	+2 letters: compass, impasse, mishaps, plasmas, sampans, samples, smashup.
	+3 letters: baptisms, campuses, dampness, emphases, emphasis, escapism, impasses, impastes, impastos, impresas, lampases, mispages, misparse, misparts, misplans, misplays, misshape, misspace, misspeak, palmists, pastimes, phasmids, pianisms, plasmids, plasmins, plasmons, pressman, prosaism, prosomas, psalmist, psammons, restamps, samplers, sapphism, scampers, scampies, scampish, shampoos, sinapism, smashups, spammers, stampers, sunlamps, swampers, swampish, symposia, topmasts, wampuses.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

Expression	Frequency per Day	Expression	Frequency per Day
muscle spasm	235	neck spasm	8
esophageal spasm	61	spasm throat	8
spasm	60	eyelid spasm	7
back spasm	47	colon spasm	7
bladder spasm	42	eye muscle spasm	7
hemifacial spasm	39	esophageal spasm diffuse	6
esophagus spasm	18	neck muscle spasm	6
back muscle spasm	16	rectal spasm	6
eye spasm	14	acupuncture muscle spasm	6
cause muscle spasm	13	leg spasm	6
bronchial spasm	13	back compression spasm	5
coronary artery spasm	12	lower back spasm	4
stomach spasm	12	chronic muscle spasm	4
cricopharyngeal spasm	12	pyloric spasm	4
infantile spasm	11	in muscle neck spasm	4
muscle spasm treatment	10	shoulder muscle spasm	4
heart spasm	9	chest spasm	4
coronary spasm	8	muscle skeletal spasm	4
laryngeal spasm	8	back spasm treatment	4
esophogeal spasm	8	leg muscle spasm	4
		bowel spasm	4
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Spasm

Definition: Spasm

Spasm

Noun

Specialty Definition: Spasm

Specialty Definition: Spasm

Synonyms: Spasm

Synonyms within Context: Spasm

Agitation

Physical Pain

Revolution

Violence

Crosswords: Spasm

Modern Usage: Spasm

Movie/TV Titles

Commercial Usage: Spasm

References

Books

Music

Non-Fiction Usage: Spasm

Usage Frequency: Spasm

Expressions: Spasm

Frequency of Internet Keywords: Spasm

Modern Translation: Spasm

Albanian

Arabic

Bulgarian

Chinese

Czech

Danish

Dutch

Esperanto

Faeroese

Farsi

Finnish

French

German

Greek

Hebrew

Hungarian

Indonesian

Italian

Japanese Kanji

Japanese Katakana

Korean

Manx

Pig Latin

Portuguese

Romanian

Russian

Serbo-Croatian

Spanish

Swedish

Turkish

Ukrainian

Ancestral Language Translations: Spasm

Derivations & Misspellings: Spasm

Derivations

Misspellings

Rhyming with "Spasm"

Anagrams: Spasm

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

INDEX