paralyze

English

Alternative forms

• paralyse (mostly British)

Etymology

From French paralyser.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈpæɹəlaɪz/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American, without the Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): /ˈpæɹəˌlaɪz/
• (General American, Canada, Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): /ˈpɛɹəˌlaɪz/

  • Audio (non-native):

    (file)

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈpæɹəlɑez/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈpɛɹəlaɪz/, [ˈpɛɹəlɑez]

Verb

paralyze (third-person singular simple present paralyzes, present participle paralyzing, simple past and past participle paralyzed)

1. (transitive) To afflict with paralysis.
2. (transitive) To render unable to move; to immobilize.
   • 2006, The H. P. Lovecraft Historical Society, “Harley Got Devoured by the Undead”, in An Even Scarier Solstice:

     So I stood alone in horror / Paralyzed with fear and dread / When a voice dead and inhuman / Whispered to me "go, you fool, Warren's dead!"

3. (transitive) To render unable to function properly.

   The transport strike paralyzed the city.

Translations

to afflict with paralysis

Arabic: أَشَلَّ (ʔašalla) Azerbaijani: iflic etmək Belarusian: паралізава́ць impf or pf (paralizavácʹ) Bulgarian: парализи́рам (bg) impf or pf (paralizíram) Catalan: paralitzar (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 麻痺 / 麻痹 (zh) (mábì) (be paralysed) Czech: ochromit (cs) pf, paralyzovat impf Dutch: verlammen (nl) Esperanto: paralizi Finnish: halvaannuttaa (fi) French: paralyser (fr) Galician: paralizar, entanguiñar German: paralysieren (de), lähmen (de) Hebrew: שִׁיתֵּק (shiték) Hungarian: megbénít (hu) Italian: paralizzare (it) Japanese: 麻痺する (まひする, mahi suru) (be paralysed) Maori: mae (with fear or shock), pararūtiki, pararaiha Mongolian: Cyrillic: саа дайрах (saa dajrax) (be paralysed) Mongolian: ᠰᠠ ᠳᠠᠭᠠᠷᠢᠬᠤ (sa daɣariqu) Occitan: paralisar (oc) Polish: paraliżować (pl) impf, sparaliżować (pl) pf Portuguese: paralisar (pt) Romanian: paraliza (ro) Russian: парализова́ть (ru) impf or pf (paralizovátʹ) Spanish: paralizar (es) Swedish: förlama (sv) Ukrainian: паралізува́ти impf or pf (paralizuváty)