Paroxysm (noun)
pa-roks-izm
A sudden attack or outburst of a particular emotion or activity.
Late Middle English from French paroxysme, via medieval Latin from Greek paroxusmos, from paroxunein ‘exasperate’, from para- ‘beyond’ + oxunein ‘sharpen’ (from oxus ‘sharp’).
Example sentences
“A paroxysm of coughing overtook his whole body.”
Wonky (adj) won-kee Not straight or balanced, off kilter. First recorded in 1915–20; perhaps variant of dialectal wanky, equivalent to wank(le) ( Middle English wankel, Old English wancol. (more…)