What does paralytic mean?
Paralytic is chiefly an adjective meaning that something causes paralysis, or that a person or condition is characterized by paralysis. It can describe a physical condition, as in “paralytic weakness,” or a powerful figurative condition that leaves people unable to act, respond, or make progress. The word is also used informally for a person who is extremely intoxicated, a meaning especially familiar in British English. As a noun, paralytic denotes a person who is paralyzed or, metaphorically, someone rendered helpless by circumstances. The term appears in established medical usage in phrases such as “paralytic ileus,” a form of intestinal obstruction caused by impaired muscular contraction. Its unusual history begins with a Greek root associated with loosening, a contrast with the immobility its modern descendants describe. Paralytic is therefore useful not only as a precise medical term but also as a vivid word for forces that temporarily or completely prevent action.
Causing or characterized by paralysis; unable to move or function because of paralysis. Informally, it can also mean extremely intoxicated.
"The paralysis spread through his legs, leaving him temporarily paralytic."
The medical senses are formal; the intoxicated sense is informal and particularly common in British English.
A person who is paralyzed, or figuratively someone who is unable to act effectively.
"The committee's chairman became a paralytic whenever a difficult decision arose."
The figurative noun can sound exaggerated or disparaging when applied to a real person's reluctance to act.
The standard plural of the noun is paralytics.
"The medics knew that several paralytics would need long-term respiratory support."
Its ancestry is unexpectedly paradoxical: it comes from a Greek root meaning “to loosen,” which developed into a word for being unable to move.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does paralytic come from?
Paralytic entered English through Latin from Greek paralutikos, an adjective derived from paraluein, “to loosen, release, or disable.” The ancient root referred to loosening a body part and thereby impairing its function, which led to the modern senses connected with paralysis. English cognates and derivatives such as paralysis and paralyze developed through the same Greek and Latin word family, while the ultimate meaning “disable” also underlies paralysing and paralysed.
Related word forms
How paralytic is actually used
The medical and figurative senses are formal and widely used in both British and American English. The sense meaning extremely intoxicated is informal and especially common in British speech; figurative uses describing someone unable to act can sometimes sound dismissive or exaggerated.
Easily confused with paralytic
Paralysis is the condition or loss of movement, whereas paralytic describes something that causes, accompanies, or suffers from that condition.