epileptic
Americanadjective
noun
adjective
noun
Usage
Rather than talking about an epileptic or epileptics , it is better to talk about a person with epilepsy and people with epilepsy
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of epileptic
First recorded in 1600–10; from Late Latin epilēpticus, from Greek epilēptikós, from epílēpt(os) ( see epilepsy) + -ikos -ic
Explanation
Anything described as epileptic is related to the nervous system disorder that can cause convulsions. An epileptic seizure often makes the body shake uncontrollably. Both epileptic and epilepsy come from a Greek root that means "to seize." It's a good description of an epileptic event, in which a person shakes or moves convulsively as though something has taken hold of them. The causes of this disorder aren't fully understood. Though it was once common to describe a person with epilepsy as an epileptic, it's rarely used that way today.
Vocabulary lists containing epileptic
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Sir Victor Horsley, one of the fathers of neurosurgery, conducted the first modern surgery for epilepsy in 1886, at the National Hospital for Paralysed and Epileptic in London.
From New York Times • Sep. 25, 2019
Art Spiegelman’s Maus and David B’s Epileptic do this through using frequent symbolism to make it clear we are not reading literal truth.
From Slate • Feb. 10, 2017
Or think of David B. puppeteering the reader’s movement through Epileptic by alternating small consecutive squares with full-page boxes.
From Slate • Oct. 8, 2014
Epileptic seizures—hypersynchronized, self-maintained neural discharges that can sometimes engulf the entire brain—are a common neurological disorder.
From Scientific American • Apr. 4, 2011
Epileptic attacks are intermittent, and the sufferer may appear quite sane between the attacks.
From The Shrieking Pit by Rees, Arthur J. (Arthur John)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
