paralysis

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A state of being unable to act.

   The government has been in a paralysis since it lost its majority in the parliament.

2. 2
   noun

   loss of the ability to move a body part

3. 3
   noun

   The complete loss of voluntary control of part of a person's body, such as one or more limbs.

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin paralysis, from Ancient Greek παράλυσις (parálusis, “palsy”), from παραλύω (paralúō, “to disable on one side”). By surface analysis, para- + -lysis. Doublet of palsy.