general paralysis

American  

noun

Pathology.

1. a syphilitic brain disorder characterized by chronic inflammation and degeneration of cerebral tissue resulting in mental and physical deterioration.

---

Etymology

Origin of general paralysis

First recorded in 1890–95

Example Sentences

No one suggested that my growing social anxiety, my persistent nightmares or my general paralysis in life might have been due to grief.

From Washington Post • May 12, 2022

The pair took pus from the sores of syphilitics and injected it into patients suffering from general paralysis of the insane.

From The New Yorker • May 20, 2019

Toward the end of the century, as many as one in five people entering asylums had general paralysis of the insane.

From The New Yorker • May 20, 2019

He had to be committed to the Northern State Hospital, where he died of "general paralysis of the insane."

From Time Magazine Archive

Wrist drop and many other symptoms of local and general paralysis.

From Mother's Remedies Over One Thousand Tried and Tested Remedies from Mothers of the United States and Canada by Ritter, Thomas Jefferson