apoplexy

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   dated: sudden unconsciousness or paralysis caused by a stroke or cerebral hemorrhage

   The old report listed apoplexy as the cause of death.

2. 2
   noun

   a state of extreme anger or indignant agitation

   The suggestion sent the committee chair into apoplexy.

Simplified etymology

Apoplexy came through Latin from a Greek medical term going back to a word meaning “to strike.” It was an old term for a stroke. The related apoplectic is recorded medically from the early 17th century and gradually acquired its modern sense of extreme anger during the 19th and 20th centuries.

From Old French apoplexie and Late Latin apoplexia, from Greek apoplēxía ("paralysis from a stroke"), based on apoplḗssein ("to strike down or disable"): apo- ("away, off") + plḗssein ("to strike"). The anger sense is a later exaggeration of the sudden medical seizure.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary