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# paroxysm

«paroxysm» in Mova's school dictionary: **A sudden, strong burst of a feeling or action that you…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

noun (a paroxysm, paroxysms)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A sudden, strong burst of a feeling or action that you cannot control: «a paroxysm of laughter», «a paroxysm of rage». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/paroxysm/#m1)

2) (medicine) A sudden attack or worsening of an illness, such as a fit of coughing. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/paroxysm/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In stories this word shows a character overcome: Toad has paroxysms of joy and rage in The Wind in the Willows. In medicine, whooping cough causes paroxysms of coughing.

### examples

- The children fell into paroxysms of laughter. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/paroxysm/#x1)
- Toad flew into a paroxysm of rage. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/paroxysm/#x2)
- A paroxysm of coughing shook the old man. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/paroxysm/#x3)
- She was seized by a paroxysm of fear. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/paroxysm/#x4)
- The joke sent the class into paroxysms. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/paroxysm/#x5)
- Whooping cough brings paroxysms of coughing. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/paroxysm/#x6)

### note

Pronounced PA-rok-sizm. Usually followed by «of». Similar: fit, outburst, spasm.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «paroxysm» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/paroxysm/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.