tetanus C1 Topic:Health & Medicine US /ˈtɛtənəs/ UK /ˈtetənəs/ See IPA manual Freq #20957 Meanings 1 noun a serious infection caused by Clostridium tetani, marked by painful muscle stiffness and spasms Vaccination has made tetanus uncommon in countries with strong immunization programs. 2 noun physiology: a sustained muscular contraction produced by rapidly repeated stimuli Rapid stimulation produced tetanus in the isolated muscle. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 noun · a serious infection caused... lockjaw 2 noun · physiology: a sustained... tetanic contraction Word family Forms tetanic Derived forms tetanicantitetanic Related forms vaccinationmuscle spasm Etymology From Latin tetanus, from Ancient Greek tetanos ("muscular spasm"), from teinein ("to stretch"). Topics Health & Medicine External links Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary Google Images # tetanus **Type:** Word **Level:** C1 **Part of speech:** noun **IPA (US):** /ˈtɛtənəs/ **IPA (UK):** /ˈtetənəs/ **Frequency rank:** 20957 ## Meanings 1. a serious infection caused by Clostridium tetani, marked by painful muscle stiffness and spasms 2. physiology: a sustained muscular contraction produced by rapidly repeated stimuli ## Examples - Vaccination has made tetanus uncommon in countries with strong immunization programs. - Rapid stimulation produced tetanus in the isolated muscle. ## Synonyms - lockjaw - tetanic contraction ## Derived Forms - tetanic - antitetanic ## Related Forms - vaccination - muscle spasm ## Etymology From Latin tetanus, from Ancient Greek tetanos ("muscular spasm"), from teinein ("to stretch"). ## Topics - Health & Medicine markdown