catatonic

[ kat-uh-ton-ik ]

adjective

1. having catatonia, a syndrome characterized by muscular rigidity and mental stupor:

   The schizophrenic remained in a catatonic state.

2. appearing to be in a daze or stupor; unresponsive:

   She had the catatonic expression of an avant-garde model.

noun

1. a person having or experiencing catatonia.

Other Words From

• cat·a·ton·i·cal·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of catatonic¹

First recorded in 1905–10; cataton(ia) ( def ) + -ic ( def )

Example Sentences

He was in a wheelchair during much of the sentencing hearing, often with catatonic stare as a judge sentenced him for shooting Berman in the back of the head at her home in December 2000.

From Washington Post

He followed it with Awakenings in 1973, documenting the miraculous recovery and relapse of catatonic patients who began to clap, walk and talk after treatment with a medication for Parkinson’s disease, before fading back into unresponsiveness.

From Science News

Catatonic, he crawls on his hands and knees like an infantilized clown back to his white Lamborghini.

From The Daily Beast

Well, were either of you that sorry girl who turned completely catatonic and needed to be carted off to a psychiatric hospital?

From The Daily Beast

I thought about my younger siblings, and how I might have been catatonic if I lost them in the same manner.

From The Daily Beast

During the 10-minute court proceeding, Holmes looked at times like he was in a catatonic state.

From The Daily Beast

I felt he had no obligation to stay in Cleveland, but at least he could have thanked the folks there without appearing catatonic.

From The Daily Beast

But I think he is catatonic now; he has lost all touch with the outside.

From Project Gutenberg

At first, it looked as though Lasser would go the way of Sager and Pederson, ending up as a hopelessly insane catatonic.

From Project Gutenberg

Two men with rifles plunged into the gas; sighing, they fell to the floor in a catatonic trance.

From Project Gutenberg

Raecke further calls attention to the manifold similarities which these conditions may show with catatonic processes.

From Project Gutenberg

Kutner, in a work on the catatonic states in degenerates, describes this condition at length.

From Project Gutenberg