catatonic

/kæ.təˈtɒn.ɪk/US/kæ.təˈtɑn.ɪk/

catatonic adjective: of, relating to, or suffering from catatonia; having a tendency to remain in a rigid state of stupor for long periods which give way to short periods of extreme agitation.

Adjective

catatonic (comparative more catatonic, superlative most catatonic)

Of, relating to, or suffering from catatonia; having a tendency to remain in a rigid state of stupor for long periods which give way to short periods of extreme agitation.
- However, he was looking a lot more catatonic and depressed before and sometimes we find that on the anti-depressants you remove the depression and uncover the paranoid stuff and we may have to give him larger quantities of tranquilizers just to tone this down.1967, unnamed doctor in 1967, Frederick Wiseman (director), Titicut Follies (documentary film), quoted in 2004, Jerrold R. Brandell (editor), Celluloid Couches, Cinematic Clients, page 118
- It was plausible that Cara became more catatonic in order to avoid a painful and overwhelming confrontation with terrifying but repressed memories of child abuse.2006, David H. Brendel, Healing Psychiatry, page 119
(figuratively) Motionless and unresponsive, as from shock; withdrawn.
- He made Yossarian think of cripples and of cold and hungry men and women, and of all the dumb, passive, devout mothers with catatonic eyes nursing infants outdoors that same night with chilled animal udders bared insensibly to that same raw rain.1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Eternal City”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 428
- Further and further he would withdraw from the world, becoming more and more catatonic — withdrawing completely from his hateful world to the only real and secure comfort he had ever known, the womb.2004, William Meninger, 1012 Monastery Road: A Spiritual Journey, page 19

Noun

catatonic (plural catatonics)

A patient in a state of catatonia.
- An inspection of Table IV shows that the catatonics have the lowest mean reversal score of all the groups.1953, Canadian Journal of Psychology: Revue Canadienne de Psychologie, volume 7, page 120
- I thought of children released from school; I thought of spring-awakenings after winter-sleeps; I thought of the Sleeping Beauty; and I also thought, with some foreboding, of catatonics, suddenly frenzied.1973, Oliver Sacks, Awakenings, unnumbered page

Examples of catatonic in a sentence

The fact that he was not twirling his kiss curl underscored his catatonic state of mind.2009, Nicole Chénier-Cullen, I Found My Thrill on Parliament Hill, page 37:
All outward signs suggest that catatonics have ceased being subjects by virtue of having transformed themselves into veritable objects.1991, Dean Turner, Escape from God: The Use of Religion and Philosophy to Evade Responsibility, page 92:

Forms of catatonic

Adjective
comparative	more catatonic
superlative	most catatonic
Noun
plural	catatonics

Words formed from catatonic

Words that rhyme with catatonic

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about catatonic

What does catatonic mean?: Catatonic means of, relating to, or suffering from catatonia; having a tendency to remain in a rigid state of stupor for long periods which give way to short periods of extreme agitation.
How do you use catatonic in a sentence?: The fact that he was not twirling his kiss curl underscored his catatonic state of mind.
What part of speech is catatonic?: Catatonic can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce catatonic?: Catatonic is pronounced /kæ.təˈtɑn.ɪk/ (US).

Words near catatonic in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: catatonic (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

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Cite this entry: “catatonic.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/catatonic. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.