Word forms: 3rd person singular presenttense paralyses, present participle paralysing, past tense, past participle paralysedregional note: in AM, use paralyze
1. verb
If someone is paralysed by an accident or an illness, they have no feeling in their body, or in part of their body, and are unable to move.
Her married sister had been paralysed in a road accident. [beVERB-ed]
...a virus which paralysed his legs. [VERB noun]
paralysedadjective
The disease left him with a paralysed right arm.
...sports for people paralysed by illness or injury.
2. verb
If a person, place, or organization is paralysedby something, they become unable to act or function properly.
For weeks now the government has been paralysed by indecision. [beVERB-ed]
He was suddenly paralysed by fear. [beVERB-ed]
The strike has virtually paralysed the island. [VERB noun]
Synonyms: immobilize, freeze, halt, disable More Synonyms of paralyse
paralysedadjective
He was absolutely paralysed with shock. [+ with]
...an indefinite period of chaos, with disrupted air services and a paralysed civilservice.
Synonyms: hamstrung, immobilized, incapacitated More Synonyms of paralyse
paralysingadjective [ADJECTIVE noun]
...paralysing shyness.
...a wave of paralysing strikes.
More Synonyms of paralyse
paralyse in British English
or US paralyze (ˈpærəˌlaɪz)
verb(transitive)
1. pathology
to affect with paralysis
2. medicine
to render (a part of the body) insensitive to pain, touch, etc, esp by injection of an anaesthetic
3.
to make immobile; transfix
Derived forms
paralysation (ˌparalyˈsation) or US paralyzation (ˌparalyˈzation)
noun
paralyser (ˈparaˌlyser) or US paralyzer (ˈparaˌlyzer)
noun
Word origin
C19: from French paralyser, from paralysieparalysis
Examples of 'paralyse' in a sentence
paralyse
The city and the country are outraged, horrified and almost paralysed with fear.
Times, Sunday Times (2017)
There, doctors paralysed his body to try to give him a chance to recover.
The Sun (2016)
The condition leaves her body paralysed but her mind untouched.
The Sun (2009)
All after a rock climbing accident left her paralysed from the chest down and in a wheelchair.
The Sun (2015)
Yet the most troubling picture to emerge is that of a coach paralysed by fear.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
Bad experiences while young can leave adults feeling paralysed with anxiety.
The Sun (2016)
His right arm is still paralysed and when he walks it is with an awkward shuffle.
The Sun (2010)
She was left an active brain trapped in a paralysed body.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Throughout history there are stories of soldiers cut down by the enemy after becoming paralysed with fear.
Claudia Hammond EMOTIONAL ROLLERCOASTER: A Journey Through the Science of Feelings (2005)
One side of my body was paralysed.
The Sun (2014)
The jurors were paralysed by a fear of making a wrong call.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
He rises from the meal with half his body paralysed.
Rutherford, Ward Celtic Mythology (1987)
Most fled but some were paralysed by fear.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
His players appeared paralysed by fear at home.
The Sun (2012)
The disease paralysed his right leg, leaving him unable to walk.
The Sun (2010)
One was hit in the shoulder, leaving his arm paralysed.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
He was 21 when his paralysing illness was diagnosed and he was then given two years to live.
The Sun (2015)
When we dream the body is usually paralysed, but in this condition the person can move around.
The Sun (2010)
In 2008 he was attacked with terrifying speed by motor neurone disease and is paralysed from the neck down.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
But the arm is paralysed.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
He claimed that this had worsened the effects of the stroke, which left the dictator with a paralysed left arm and a limp.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
A neighbour's daughter was paralysed in an accident.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
There are people paralysed in accidents who, once recovered, go on to have different but whole lives.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
In 1982 an horrendous car accident left him paralysed from the waist down and confined to a wheelchair, but his voice was spared.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
He lost his father when he was just two and his mother at 18, two years after a car accident left her paralysed.
The Sun (2010)
In other languages
paralyse
British English: paralyse VERB
If someone is paralysed by an accident or an illness, they have no feeling in their body, or in part of their body, and are unable to move.