Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To shake or agitate violently: tremors that convulsed the countryside; when civil war convulsed the nation. See Synonyms at agitate.
- v. To affect with irregular and involuntary muscular contractions; throw into convulsions.
- v. To cause to shake with laughter or strong emotion.
- v. To become affected by or as if by convulsions; shake.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To draw or contract spasmodically or involuntarily, as the muscular parts of an animal body; affect by irregular spasms: as, his whole frame was convulsed with agony.
- To shake; disturb by violent irregular action; cause great or violent agitation in.
Wiktionary
- v. transitive To violently shake or agitate.
- v. transitive To create great laughter.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To contract violently and irregulary, as the muscular parts of an animal body; to shake with irregular spasms, as in excessive laughter, or in agony from grief or pain.
- v. To agitate greatly; to shake violently.
WordNet 3.0
- v. be overcome with laughter
- v. cause to contract
- v. move or stir about violently
- v. make someone convulse with laughter
- v. contract involuntarily, as in a spasm
- v. shake uncontrollably
Etymologies
- From Latin convulsus, past participle of convellere ("to pluck up, dislocate, convulse"), from com- ("together") + vellere ("to pluck, pull") (Wiktionary)
- Latin convellere, convuls-, to pull violently : com-, intensive pref.; see com- + vellere, to pull. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Which wasn’t too bad until I noticed it was absolutely everywhere and started to convulse from the overdose.”
“Your insides will convulse and your heart will twist.”
“I convulse for a second, then exhale sharply, slam the glass down and bring the beer to my lips.”
“Hap felt his stomach convulse as he looked at the translucent skin that barely concealed the bones and tendons of the fingers.”
“He pointed at the fat body, which had begun to twitch and convulse.”
“As Hap watched, with disgust percolating at the bottom of his throat, he saw the nearest fruit twitch and convulse.”
“Thankfully, the lieutenant had slipped into unconsciousness, instead of continuing to squirm and convulse in obvious discomfort due to the attack on his nervous system.”
Simon & Schuster: Star Trek: Typhon Pact Paths of Disharmony
“Not only are the non-violent actions of one man and the people who are following him causing millions of people to convulse with political and civic activism, but agents of the state are involved in speech suppression using modern technology, while it is age-old social media that seems to be the primary driver.”
The Huffington Post: Alan W. Silberberg: Oldest Tech, Newest Hero?
“The vet told us that the cat would probably convulse, loose her bowels or pee on the blanket, and make one last breath-like movement but that she wouldn't be aware of it, because she was just going to fall asleep.”
“He called 911 after the girl began to convulse a couple of hours after he gave her the Suboxone, the papers say.”
The Huffington Post: Alaska Teen Injected With Heroin Passes Away
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘convulse’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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gross
corpuscle, globule, botched, botulism, pustulent, swampy, splenic, distended, turgid, maw, retch, spew and 13 more...
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Funny Laughter Words
Words that speak humor
humor, laugh, funny, laughter, hilarity, guffaw, chortle, giggle, burst, hilarious, happy, chuckle and 66 more...
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shock
words associated with electric shock.
high voltage, spark, Tesla, tesla coil, arcing, current, macroshock, resistance, Ohm's law, conductive, current flow, muscular spasms and 18 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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Favorites
disparage, partisan, cupidity, hokum, tussle, odious, dastardly, overture, plane, chronic, peering, peer and 328 more...
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I do not like them, Sam I Am
Words that, for various reasons, I wish we could do without.
copacetic, gamut, horehound, lewd, membrane, metrics, mucous, mucus, negligee, nostril, odious, odor and 143 more...
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kingofbash's Words
bash, poleaxed, salacious, libertine, charlatan, aplomb, fortuitous, finagle, apoplectic, debutante, carte blanche, aardvark and 472 more...
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Twitchy
The (not always so) smoovements; scattered, oscillating, jerky, and unpredictable.
palpitation, scravel, jactitate, pounce, wobble, vibrate, undulate, didder, effleurage, flail, ague, swerve and 169 more...
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Misc. Words.
Words I like to use, words I like but may forget.
corrosion, astonish, solace, ferment, continuum, kinesthetic, permeate, repose, caprice, cardinal, discourse, surrender and 610 more...
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co-
together; joint; equally; complement of
Note: stem can varycosign, cooperation, co-owner, coextensive, cosine, colleague, commingle, convulse, correlate, cohabitate
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Vocab++
Words as I learn them.
fetid, mezzanine, hiatus, austerity, subliminal, resplendent, implacable, impugn, debase, exiguous, cirque, holster and 2538 more...
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luckylime's Words
cacophony, cascade, trigger, crunch, vellum paper, arduous, luminescent, voluminous, euphoric, bucolic, diaphanous, danger and 162 more...
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Words Words and more Words
ruckus, bustle, ominous, odious, abominable, atrocious, appal, abysmal, dismal, calamity, debacle, fiasco and 231 more...
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Laffterglow
HA, HA.
chortle, manlaughter, snicker, guffaw, snort, chuckle, titter, giggle, laugh, gelastic, snigger, har-de-har and 60 more...
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Day 1
GRE word list
ambivalent, innocuous, extant, contentious, enervate, equivocate, unequivocal, erratic, candid, sedulous, alacrity, confound and 58 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for convulse.

PossibleUnderscore “The rising power of the United States in world affairs requires, not a more compliant press, but a relentless barrage of facts and criticism. Our job in this age, as I see it, is not to serve as cheerleaders for our side in the present world struggle but to help the largest possible number of people to see the realities of the changing and convulsive world in which American policy must operate.�?
James Reston Jul 19, 2009