spasmodic

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: spas=mod=ic

CIDE DICTIONARY

spasmodic, a. [Gr. ; a convulsion + likeness: cf. F. spasmotique.].

•  Of or pertaining to spasm; consisting in spasm; occuring in, or characterized by, spasms; as, a spasmodic asthma.  [1913 Webster]
•  Soon relaxed or exhausted; convulsive; intermittent; as, spasmodic zeal or industry.  [1913 Webster]

Spasmodic croup (Med.), an affection of childhood characterized by a stoppage of brathing developed suddenly and without fever, and produced by spasmodic contraction of the vocal cords. It is sometimes fatal. Called also laryngismus stridulus, and childcrowing. -- Spasmodic stricture, a stricture caused by muscular spasm without structural change. See Organic stricture, under Organic.

spasmodic, n. 

 A medicine for spasm.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

spasmodic, adj.
1 of, caused by, or subject to, a spasm or spasms (a spasmodic jerk; spasmodic asthma).
2 occurring or done by fits and starts (spasmodic efforts).

Derivative

spasmodically adv.

Etymology

mod.L spasmodicus f. Gk spasmodes (as SPASM)

THESAURUS

spasmodic

acute, adrift, afflictive, afloat, agonizing, aimless, alternating, amorphous, arrhythmic, atrocious, biting, broken, broken off, capricious, careening, casual, cataclysmic, catchy, changeable, changeful, changing, chopped-off, choppy, convulsive, cramping, cruel, cyclical, decousu, desultory, deviable, deviating, deviative, deviatory, different, disarticulated, disastrous, disconnected, discontinued, discontinuous, discrete, disjunct, disjunctive, disordered, disorderly, dispersed, disproportionate, distressing, divaricate, divergent, diversified, diversiform, dizzy, eccentric, eclamptic, episodic, erose, erratic, excruciating, fast and loose, fickle, fidgety, fitful, flickering, flighty, flitting, fluctuating, formless, freakish, frivolous, giddy, gnawing, gratuitous, grave, griping, guttering, halting, haphazard, hard, harrowing, harsh, herky-jerky, heteroclite, hit-or-miss, hurtful, hurting, immethodical, impetuous, impulsive, inchoate, incoherent, inconsistent, inconstant, indecisive, indiscriminate, infirm, intermittent, intermitting, interrupted, irregular, irresolute, irresponsible, jagged, jerking, jerky, jiggety, jumpy, lurching, mazy, meaningless, mercurial, misshapen, moody, motley, mutable, nonconformist, noncontinuous, nonlinear, nonsequential, nonserial, nonstandard, nonsymmetrical, nonsystematic, nonuniform, occasional, orderless, orgasmic, painful, parenthetic, paroxysmal, patchy, periodic, piercing, planless, pluralistic, poignant, promiscuous, pulsating, pungent, racking, ragged, rambling, random, restless, rough, roving, saltatory, scatterbrained, scrappy, seismic, senseless, severe, shapeless, sharp, shifting, shifty, shooting, shuffling, snatchy, spasmatic, spasmic, spasmodical, spastic, spineless, sporadic, spotty, stabbing, staggering, stinging, straggling, straggly, sudden, suspended, systemless, tormenting, torturous, twitchety, twitching, twitchy, unaccountable, unarranged, uncertain, unclassified, unconnected, uncontrolled, undependable, undirected, undisciplined, unequable, unequal, uneven, unfixed, ungraded, unjoined, unmethodical, unmetrical, unordered, unorganized, unorthodox, unpredictable, unregular, unreliable, unrestrained, unrhythmical, unsettled, unsorted, unstable, unstable as water, unstaid, unsteadfast, unsteady, unsuccessive, unsustained, unsymmetrical, unsystematic, ununiform, upheaving, vacillating, vagrant, vague, variable, variegated, variform, various, varying, veering, vellicative, vicissitudinary, vicissitudinous, volatile, wandering, wanton, wavering, wavery, wavy, wayward, whimsical, wishy-washy, wobbling, wobbly

ROGET THESAURUS

spasmodic

Discontinuity

N discontinuity, disjunction, anacoluthon, interruption, break, fracture, flaw, fault, crack, cut, gap, solution of continuity, caesura, broken thread, parenthesis, episode, rhapsody, patchwork, intermission, alternation, dropping fire, discontinuous, unsuccessive, broken, interrupted, dicousu, disconnected, unconnected, discrete, disjunctive, fitful, spasmodic, desultory, intermitting, occasional, intermittent, alternate, recurrent, at intervals, by snatches, by jerks, by skips, by catches, by fits and starts, skippingly, per saltum, longo intervallo, like 'angel visits few and far between'.

Transientness

N transience, transientness, evanescence, impermanence, fugacity, caducity, mortality, span, nine days' wonder, bubble, Mayfly, spurt, flash in the pan, temporary arrangement, interregnum, velocity, suddenness, changeableness, transient, transient boarder, transient guest, transient, transitory, transitive, passing, evanescent, fleeting, cursory, short-lived, ephemeral, flying, fugacious, fugitive, shifting, slippery, spasmodic, instantaneous, momentaneous, temporal, temporary, provisional, provisory, deciduous, perishable, mortal, precarious, unstable, insecure, impermanent, brief, quick, brisk, extemporaneous, summary, pressed for time, sudden, momentary, temporarily, pro tempore, for the moment, for a time, awhile, en passant, in transitu, in a short time, soon, briefly, at short notice, on the point of, on the eve of, in articulo, between cup and lip, one's days are numbered, the time is up, here today and gone tomorrow, non semper erit aestas, eheu! fugaces labuntur anni, sic transit gloria mundi, a schoolboy's tale, the wonder of the hour!, dum loquimur fugerit invidia aetas, fugit hora, all that is transitory is but an illusion.

Irregularity of recurrence

N irregularity of recurrence, irregularity, uncertainty, unpunctuality, fitfulness, capriciousness, ecrhythmus, irregular, uncertain, unpunctual, capricious, desultory, fitful, flickering, rambling, rhapsodical, spasmodic, immethodical, unmethodical, variable, irregularly, by fits and starts.

Changeableness

N changeableness, mutability, inconstancy, versatility, mobility, instability, unstable equilibrium, vacillation, fluctuation, vicissitude, alternation, restlessness, fidgets, disquiet, disquietude, inquietude, unrest, agitation, moon, Proteus, chameleon, quicksilver, shifting sands, weathercock, harlequin, Cynthia of the minute, April showers, wheel of Fortune, transientness, changeable, changeful, changing, mutable, variable, checkered, ever changing, protean, proteiform, versatile, unstaid, inconstant, unsteady, unstable, unfixed, unsettled, fluctuating, restless, agitated, erratic, fickle, irresolute, capricious, touch and go, inconsonant, fitful, spasmodic, vibratory, vagrant, wayward, desultory, afloat, alternating, alterable, plastic, mobile, transient, wavering, seesaw, off and on, a rolling stone gathers no moss, pictra mossa non fa muschis, honores mutant mores, varium et mutabile semper femina.

Violence

N violence, inclemency, vehemence, might, impetuosity, boisterousness, effervescence, ebullition, turbulence, bluster, uproar, callithump, riot, row, rumpus, le diable a quatre, devil to pay, all the fat in the fire, 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, outbreak, outburst, debacle, burst, bounce, dissilience, discharge, volley, explosion, blow up, blast, detonation, rush, eruption, displosion, torrent, turmoil, ferment, storm, tempest, rough weather, squall, earthquake, volcano, thunderstorm, berserk, berserker, fury, dragon, demon, tiger, beldame, Tisiphone, Megaera, Alecto, madcap, wild beast, fire eater, violent, vehement, warm, acute, sharp, rough, rude, ungentle, bluff, boisterous, wild, brusque, abrupt, waspish, impetuous, rampant, turbulent, disorderly, blustering, raging, troublous, riotous, tumultuary, tumultuous, obstreperous, uproarious, extravagant, unmitigated, ravening, inextinguishable, tameless, frenzied, desperate, infuriate, furious, outrageous, frantic, hysteric, in hysterics, fiery, flaming, scorching, hot, red-hot, ebullient, savage, fierce, ferocious, fierce as a tiger, excited, unquelled, unquenched, unextinguished, unrepressed, unbridled, unruly, headstrong, ungovernable, unappeasable, immitigable, unmitigable, uncontrollable, incontrollable, insuppressible, irrepressible, orgastic, orgasmatic, orgasmic, spasmodic, convulsive, explosive, detonating, volcanic, meteoric, stormy, violently, amain, by storm, by force, by main force, with might and main, tooth and nail, vi et armis, at the point of the sword, at the point of the bayonet, at one fell swoop, with a high hand, through thick and thin, in desperation, with a vengeance, a outrance, a toute outrance, headlong, head foremost, furor arma ministrat, blown with restless violence round about the pende.