Library / English Dictionary

CONVULSE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Be overcome with laughter

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "convulse" is one way to...):

express joy; express mirth; laugh (produce laughter)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

convulsive (resembling a convulsion in being sudden and violent)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make someone convulse with laughter

Example:

The comedian convulsed the crowd

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "convulse" is one way to...):

amuse (make (somebody) laugh)

Cause:

convulse (be overcome with laughter)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

convulsion (violent uncontrollable contractions of muscles)

convulsive (resembling a convulsion in being sudden and violent)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Contract involuntarily, as in a spasm

Example:

The muscles in her face convulsed

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "convulse" is one way to...):

compact; compress; constrict; contract; press; squeeze (squeeze or press together)

Verb group:

convulse (cause to contract)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

convulsion (violent uncontrollable contractions of muscles)

convulsive (affected by involuntary jerky muscular contractions; resembling a spasm)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Cause to contract

Example:

The spasm convulses her facial muscles

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "convulse" is one way to...):

compact; compress; constrict; contract; press; squeeze (squeeze or press together)

Verb group:

convulse (contract involuntarily, as in a spasm)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

convulsion (violent uncontrollable contractions of muscles)

convulsive (affected by involuntary jerky muscular contractions; resembling a spasm)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Shake uncontrollably

Example:

earthquakes convulsed the countryside

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "convulse" is one way to...):

agitate; shake (move or cause to move back and forth)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sense 6

Meaning:

Move or stir about violently

Example:

The feverish patient thrashed around in his bed

Synonyms:

convulse; jactitate; slash; thrash; thrash about; thresh; thresh about; toss

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "convulse" is one way to...):

agitate; shake (move or cause to move back and forth)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "convulse"):

whip (thrash about flexibly in the manner of a whiplash)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Credits

 Context examples: 

As Christmas approached, the usual mysteries began to haunt the house, and Jo frequently convulsed the family by proposing utterly impossible or magnificently absurd ceremonies, in honor of this unusually merry Christmas.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I started from my sleep with horror; a cold dew covered my forehead, my teeth chattered, and every limb became convulsed; when, by the dim and yellow light of the moon, as it forced its way through the window shutters, I beheld the wretch—the miserable monster whom I had created.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Then there was Monsieur Rudin, the French Royalist refugee who lived over on the Pangdean road, and who, when the news of a victory came in, was convulsed with joy because we had beaten Buonaparte, and shaken with rage because we had beaten the French, so that after the Nile he wept for a whole day out of delight and then for another one out of fury, alternately clapping his hands and stamping his feet.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The landlord was hesitating whether to carry this message or no, when the door of the inner room was flung open, and the stranger bounded out like a panther from its den, his hair bristling and his deformed face convulsed with anger.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The remaining toasts were DOCTOR MELL; Mrs. MICAWBER (who gracefully bowed her acknowledgements from the side-door, where a galaxy of beauty was elevated on chairs, at once to witness and adorn the gratifying scene), Mrs. RIDGER BEGS (late Miss Micawber); Mrs. MELL; WILKINS MICAWBER, ESQUIRE, JUNIOR (who convulsed the assembly by humorously remarking that he found himself unable to return thanks in a speech, but would do so, with their permission, in a song); Mrs. MICAWBER'S FAMILY (well known, it is needless to remark, in the mother-country), &c. &c. &c.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Besides, it was not fear, but terror, that convulsed him.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

He broke out now into a furious stream of German invective, his face convulsed with passion.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Here was a face with flashing eyes and distorted features, a face convulsed with hatred and with the mad joy of gratified revenge.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The Duke had dropped the last attempt at self-command, and was pacing the room with a convulsed face and with his clenched hands raving in the air.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"Snuffbox," said Jo, in a sepulchral tone, which convulsed the audience.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)