Search Result for "spasmodic": 
Wordnet 3.0

ADJECTIVE (2)

1. affected by involuntary jerky muscular contractions; resembling a spasm;
- Example: "convulsive motions"
- Example: "his body made a spasmodic jerk"
- Example: "spastic movements"
[syn: convulsive, spasmodic, spastic]

2. occurring in spells and often abruptly;
- Example: "fitful bursts of energy"
- Example: "spasmodic rifle fire"
[syn: fitful, spasmodic]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Spasmodic \Spas*mod"ic\, n. (Med.) A medicine for spasm. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Spasmodic \Spas"mod"ic\, a. [Gr. ?; ? a convulsion + ? likeness: cf. F. spasmotique.] 1. (Med.) Of or pertaining to spasm; consisting in spasm; occuring in, or characterized by, spasms; as, a spasmodic asthma. [1913 Webster] 2. Soon relaxed or exhausted; convulsive; intermittent; as, spasmodic zeal or industry. [1913 Webster] Spasmodic croup (Med.), an affection of childhood characterized by a stoppage of brathing developed suddenly and without fever, and produced by spasmodic contraction of the vocal cords. It is sometimes fatal. Called also laryngismus stridulus, and childcrowing. Spasmodic stricture, a stricture caused by muscular spasm without structural change. See Organic stricture, under Organic. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

spasmodic adj 1: affected by involuntary jerky muscular contractions; resembling a spasm; "convulsive motions"; "his body made a spasmodic jerk"; "spastic movements" [syn: convulsive, spasmodic, spastic] 2: occurring in spells and often abruptly; "fitful bursts of energy"; "spasmodic rifle fire" [syn: fitful, spasmodic]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

239 Moby Thesaurus words for "spasmodic": acute, adrift, afflictive, afloat, agonizing, aimless, alternating, amorphous, arrhythmic, atrocious, biting, broken, broken off, capricious, careening, casual, cataclysmic, catchy, changeable, changeful, changing, chopped-off, choppy, convulsive, cramping, cruel, cyclical, decousu, desultory, deviable, deviating, deviative, deviatory, different, disarticulated, disastrous, disconnected, discontinued, discontinuous, discrete, disjunct, disjunctive, disordered, disorderly, dispersed, disproportionate, distressing, divaricate, divergent, diversified, diversiform, dizzy, eccentric, eclamptic, episodic, erose, erratic, excruciating, fast and loose, fickle, fidgety, fitful, flickering, flighty, flitting, fluctuating, formless, freakish, frivolous, giddy, gnawing, gratuitous, grave, griping, guttering, halting, haphazard, hard, harrowing, harsh, herky-jerky, heteroclite, hit-or-miss, hurtful, hurting, immethodical, impetuous, impulsive, inchoate, incoherent, inconsistent, inconstant, indecisive, indiscriminate, infirm, intermittent, intermitting, interrupted, irregular, irresolute, irresponsible, jagged, jerking, jerky, jiggety, jumpy, lurching, mazy, meaningless, mercurial, misshapen, moody, motley, mutable, nonconformist, noncontinuous, nonlinear, nonsequential, nonserial, nonstandard, nonsymmetrical, nonsystematic, nonuniform, occasional, orderless, orgasmic, painful, parenthetic, paroxysmal, patchy, periodic, piercing, planless, pluralistic, poignant, promiscuous, pulsating, pungent, racking, ragged, rambling, random, restless, rough, roving, saltatory, scatterbrained, scrappy, seismic, senseless, severe, shapeless, sharp, shifting, shifty, shooting, shuffling, snatchy, spasmatic, spasmic, spasmodical, spastic, spineless, sporadic, spotty, stabbing, staggering, stinging, straggling, straggly, sudden, suspended, systemless, tormenting, torturous, twitchety, twitching, twitchy, unaccountable, unarranged, uncertain, unclassified, unconnected, uncontrolled, undependable, undirected, undisciplined, unequable, unequal, uneven, unfixed, ungraded, unjoined, unmethodical, unmetrical, unordered, unorganized, unorthodox, unpredictable, unregular, unreliable, unrestrained, unrhythmical, unsettled, unsorted, unstable, unstable as water, unstaid, unsteadfast, unsteady, unsuccessive, unsustained, unsymmetrical, unsystematic, ununiform, upheaving, vacillating, vagrant, vague, variable, variegated, variform, various, varying, veering, vellicative, vicissitudinary, vicissitudinous, volatile, wandering, wanton, wavering, wavery, wavy, wayward, whimsical, wishy-washy, wobbling, wobbly