neuralgia

American  

[noo-ral-juh, nyoo-] / nʊˈræl dʒə, njʊ- /

noun

Pathology.

• neuralgias
  plural

1. sharp and paroxysmal pain along the course of a nerve.

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neuralgia British  

/ njʊˈrældʒɪə /

noun

1. severe spasmodic pain caused by damage to or malfunctioning of a nerve and often following the course of the nerve

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• antineuralgic
  adjective
• neuralgic
  adjective
• postneuralgic
  adjective
• preneuralgic
  adjective
• unneuralgic
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• neuralgias
  plural

Etymology

Origin of neuralgia

First recorded in 1815–25; neur- + -algia

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

neuralgia neuralgias

Vaccination, which has typically been recommended for older adults, reduces the likelihood of shingles and lowers the risk of postherpetic neuralgia, or long-term nerve pain that can persist after the rash clears.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 26, 2026

The FDA approved it in 2002 for post-herpetic neuralgia, or nerve pain after shingles.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 25, 2025

Trigeminal neuralgia is a rare chronic pain disorder that affects nerves in the head and face, resulting in severe and sudden pain, according to the National Institutes of Health.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2023

More than a year later, she was diagnosed with pudendal neuralgia, a chronic pain condition in which the pudendal nerve becomes injured, irritated or compressed.

From New York Times ● Sep. 21, 2021

“I am still tortured a good deal with neuralgia and toothache,” Olmsted wrote, “and I am tired and have a growing dread of worry & anxiety.”

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson

As regards the prophylactic treatment, it is unnecessary to repeat the remarks which we have made elsewhere upon the general principles of tonic and nutritive medication in neuralgias of every kind.

From Neuralgia and the Diseases that Resemble it by Francis E. Anstie

Let me here say that I am inclined to indorse everything in the above-detailed statements, excepting that I should place a considerably higher estimate on the curative powers of the current in ordinary trigeminal neuralgias.

From Neuralgia and the Diseases that Resemble it by Francis E. Anstie

Emphysematous affections are aggravated; diseases of the heart are unfavorably influenced; chronic nervous affections are made worse, and, in particular, neuralgias are aggravated.

From A System of Practical Medicine by American Authors, Vol. I Volume 1: Pathology and General Diseases by Various

It need hardly be said that cases of this kind are essentially different, and require perfectly different principles of treatment from neuralgias in which the disturbance originates within the nervous tissues themselves.

From Neuralgia and the Diseases that Resemble it by Francis E. Anstie

Leucorrhœa, especially when profuse and long-continued, is a much more indisputable factor in many neuralgias.

From Neuralgia and the Diseases that Resemble it by Francis E. Anstie