Paroxysm

Noun

 * 1) A random or sudden outburst (of activity).
 * 2) * «There, on the soft sand, a few feet away from our elders, we would sprawl all morning, in a petrified paroxysm of desire, and take advantage of every blessed quirk in space and time to touch each other [...] » - Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita, 1955
 * 3) * Indeed in his excitement at this breakthrough he inadvertently dug his nails into the nurse's bottom, a gesture she misinterpreted, so that he had to suffer a paroxysm of breasts and loins in response. - John Fowles, Mantissa, 1983
 * 4) A sudden recurrence of a disease.

Verbs for Paroxysm
cast into—; choke back—; curb—; discharge in—; fear—; kindle—; mitigate—; provoke to—; quiver with —s; restrain—; suffel—; throw into—; vent in—; —bursts; —disturbs; —explodes; —flares; —frightens; — froths; —incapacitates; —recurs; —rushes; —weakens.

Thesaurus
Jacksonian epilepsy, Rolandic epilepsy, abdominal epilepsy, access, acquired epilepsy, activated epilepsy, acute pain, affect epilepsy, akinetic epilepsy, amok, apoplexy, arrest, attack, autonomic epilepsy, bite, blaze, blockage, boring pain, breakup, burst, cardiac epilepsy, cat fit, cataclysm, charley horse, climax, clonic spasm, clonus, conniption, conniption fit, convulsion, cortical epilepsy, cramp, cramps, crick, cursive epilepsy, cyclone, darting pain, diastrophism, disaster, diurnal epilepsy, duck fit, eclampsia, epilepsia, epilepsia gravior, epilepsia major, epilepsia minor, epilepsia mitior, epilepsia nutans, epilepsia tarda, epilepsy, epitasis, eruption, explosion, falling sickness, fever, fit, fit of anger, fit of temper, flare-up, focal epilepsy, frenzy, fulgurant pain, furor, fury, gale, girdle pain, gnawing, grand mal, grip, griping, gust, haute mal, hitch, hurricane, hysterical epilepsy, ictus, irruption, jumping pain, kink, lancinating pain, larval epilepsy, laryngeal epilepsy, laryngospasm, latent epilepsy, lockjaw, matutinal epilepsy, menstrual epilepsy, murderous insanity, musicogenic epilepsy, myoclonous epilepsy, nip, nocturnal epilepsy, occlusion, orgasm, outbreak, outburst, overthrow, pang, petit mal, physiologic epilepsy, pinch, prick, psychic epilepsy, psychokinesia, psychomotor epilepsy, quake, rage, reflex epilepsy, rotatoria, seizure, sensory epilepsy, serial epilepsy, sexual climax, sharp pain, shoot, shooting, shooting pain, spasm, spell, stab, stabbing pain, stitch, stoppage, storm, stroke, tantrum, tardy epilepsy, temblor, temper tantrum, tempest, tetanus, tetany, thrill, throe, throes, thromboembolism, thrombosis, tidal wave, tonic epilepsy, tonic spasm, tormen, tornado, torsion spasm, traumatic epilepsy, trismus, tsunami, tweak, twinge, twitch, ucinate epilepsy, upheaval, visitation, whirlwind, wrench

Etymology
From paroxysme: <  paroxysmus: <  παροξυσμός: < παροξύνειν: < παρά: + ὀξύνειν: < ὀξύς:.

Translations

 * Finnish:
 * Georgian: შეტევა
 * German:
 * Greek:


 * Serbo-Croatian:
 * Cyrillic:
 * Roman:


 * Finnish:
 * Georgian: პაროქსიზმი
 * German:
 * Greek:


 * Serbo-Croatian:
 * Cyrillic:
 * Roman:

Derived terms

 * paroxysmal