Word Study
spastic
CIDE DICTIONARY
spastic, a. [L. spasticus, Gr. , fr. to draw: cf. F. spastique. See Spasm.].
Of or pertaining to spasm; spasmodic; especially, pertaining to tonic spasm; tetanic. [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
spastic, adj. & n.
--adj.
1 Med. suffering from cerebral palsy with spasm of the muscles.
2 offens. weak, feeble, incompetent.
3 spasmodic.
--n. Med. a spastic person.
--adj.
1 Med. suffering from cerebral palsy with spasm of the muscles.
2 offens. weak, feeble, incompetent.
3 spasmodic.
--n. Med. a spastic person.
Derivative
spastically adv. spasticity n.
Etymology
L spasticus f. Gk spastikos pulling f. spao pull
THESAURUS
spastic
apoplectic, arthritic, broken, capricious, careening, case, cataclysmic, catchy, choppy, consumptive, convulsive, desultory, deviative, disastrous, disconnected, discontinuous, dyspeptic, eccentric, eclamptic, epileptic, erratic, fidgety, fitful, flickering, fluctuating, guttering, halting, herky-jerky, heteroclite, immethodical, inconstant, incurable, inpatient, intermittent, intermitting, invalid, irregular, jerking, jerky, jiggety, jumpy, lurching, nonuniform, orgasmic, outpatient, paroxysmal, patchy, patient, rambling, rheumatic, rough, saltatory, scrappy, seismic, shut-in, sick person, snatchy, spasmatic, spasmic, spasmodic, sporadic, spotty, staggering, sufferer, terminal case, the sick, twitchety, twitching, twitchy, uncertain, unequal, uneven, unmethodical, unmetrical, unregular, unrhythmical, unsettled, unsteady, unsystematic, upheaving, valetudinarian, variable, veering, vellicative, wandering, wavering, wobbling, wobblyFor further exploring for "spastic" in Webster Dictionary Online