grand mal

[ gran mahl, -mal, grand; French grahn mal ]

noun

, Pathology.

1. epilepsy

grand mal

/ ɡrɒn mæl; ɡrɑ̃ mal /

noun

1. a form of epilepsy characterized by loss of consciousness for up to five minutes and violent convulsions Compare petit mal

Word History and Origins

Origin of grand mal¹

1875–80; < French: great ailment, epilepsy

Word History and Origins

Origin of grand mal¹

French: great illness

Example Sentences

While playing “Cyberpunk 2077” ahead of the game’s release, Ruppert, an associate editor at Game Informer, experienced a grand mal seizure, a potentially life-threatening event that causes violent muscle contractions and a loss of consciousness.

From Washington Post

Could the (thus far) timid trembling give way to a full-on, grand mal seizure?

From The Daily Beast

She evidenced particular tenderness in describing a woman cradling a fellow inmate who had just suffered a grand mal seizure.

From The Daily Beast

Eleanor suffered her first grand mal seizure during a camping trip in 2005 and was diagnosed with brain cancer that year.

From The Daily Beast

The first time she cut back on her medications, she had a grand mal seizure in her bathroom and knocked out her front teeth.

From The Daily Beast

The petit mal most commonly co-exists with the grand mal, but has no necessary connexion with it, as each may exist alone.

From Project Gutenberg

This is incomplete grand mal, the starting stages only of a fit, recovery occurring before convulsions.

From Project Gutenberg

Status Epilepticus, in which a series of grand mal attacks follow one another with no conscious interval.

From Project Gutenberg

In Serial Epilepsy, a number of attacks of grand mal follow one another, with but very brief intervals between.

From Project Gutenberg

Epilepsy shows every gradation, from symptoms which cannot be described in language, to severe grand mal.

From Project Gutenberg