tenesmus

[tuh-nez-muhs, -nes-]

noun

Pathology.

1. a straining to urinate or defecate, without the ability to do so.

tenesmus

/ -ˈnɛs-, tɪˈnɛzməs /

noun

1. pathol an ineffective painful straining to empty the bowels in response to the sensation of a desire to defecate, without producing a significant quantity of faeces

Other Word Forms

• tenesmic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of tenesmus¹

1520–30; < Medieval Latin, variant of Latin tēnesmos < Greek teinesmós, equivalent to teín ( ein ) to stretch + -esmos noun suffix

Word History and Origins

Origin of tenesmus¹

C16: from Medieval Latin, from Latin tēnesmos, from Greek teinesmos, from teinein to strain

Example Sentences

The result: GI distress and tenesmus, the painful sensation of needing to go number-two even when your bowels are empty.

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The urine is scanty and high colored; there is sometimes scalding in urination and vesical tenesmus, and at the acme of the fever traces of albumen may be detected.

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The stools are pappy, or watery, profuse, offensive and followed by tenesmus.

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If the abstinence is continued for two or three days he has borborygmi, occasionally tenesmus.

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The pressure of the growth may cause dysmenorrhoea, or pressure on the bladder and rectum may cause dysuria, retention or rectal tenesmus.

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