Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To affect with paralysis; cause to be paralytic.
  • transitive verb To make unable to move or act.
  • transitive verb To impair the progress or functioning of; make inoperative or powerless.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To affect with paralysis.
  • To render helpless, useless, or ineffective, as if by paralysis; deaden the action or power of in any way: as, the sight paralyzed him with fear.
  • Also spelled paralyse.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To affect or strike with paralysis or palsy.
  • transitive verb To unnerve; to destroy or impair the energy of; to render ineffective

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To afflict with paralysis.
  • verb transitive To render unable to move; to immobilize.
  • verb transitive To render unable to function properly.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb make powerless and unable to function
  • verb cause to be paralyzed and immobile

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French paralyser, from paralysie, paralysis, from Old French, from Latin paralysis; see paralysis.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

North American spelling of paralyse.

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