Word.ws English Dictionary

galvanism

/ˈɡælvəˌnɪzəm/

galvanism noun: the chemical generation of electricity.

galvanism: the chemical generation of electricity
Image: Luigi Galvani, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

galvanism (usually uncountable, plural galvanisms)

  1. (usually) The chemical generation of electricity.
  2. (usually) The (therapeutic) use of electricity directly applied to the body.
    • Perhaps a corpse would be re-animated; galvanism had given token of such things: perhaps the component parts of a creature might be manufactured, brought together, and endued with vital warmth.1831 October 15, Mary W[ollstonecraft] Shelley, “Introduction”, in Frankenstein: Or, The Modern Prometheus (Standard Novels; IX), 3rd edition, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […]...
    • The sudden application of galvanism to bands of savages may fairly rank as a new sensation, and they, thinking the wire held this strange and mysterious power, wisely left it alone.1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 101

Noun (2) capitalized: Galvanism

Galvanism (uncountable)

  1. (rare) Rare form of galvanism.
    • I connected, by means of one chain of moisture, the heads of two or three calves, and observed that by this combination the force of the Galvanism was exerted with more energy: a frog, which was not affected by touching one head, experienced violent contractions when applied to a series of several...1803, John Aldini [i.e., Giovanni Aldini], edited by [Robert Hooper], An Account of the Late Improvements in Galvanism, with a Series of Curious and Interesting Experiments Performed before the...
    • Professor [Christoph Heinrich] Pfaff considered that the agent in Galvanism is not electricity, but one sui generis; that the metals are the conductors: and that this agent is either associated or identical with the principle of life.1816, M[ichael] Donovan, Essay on the Origin, Progress, and Present State of Galvanism: Containing Investigations, Experimental and Speculative, of the Principal Doctrines Offered for the Explanation...

Forms of galvanism

pluralgalvanisms
alternative form (rare)Galvanism

Origin of galvanism

From French galvanisme, after physiologist Luigi Alyisio Galvani (1737–1798) + -isme. By surface analysis, galvano- + -ism.

Words formed from galvanism

Questions about galvanism

What does galvanism mean?
Galvanism means the chemical generation of electricity.
What part of speech is galvanism?
Galvanism is a noun.
How do you pronounce galvanism?
Galvanism is pronounced /ˈɡælvəˌnɪzəm/.
What is the plural of galvanism?
The plural of galvanism is galvanisms.

Words near galvanism in the dictionary

  1. galvanised
  2. galvaniser
  3. galvanisers
  4. galvanises
  5. galvanising
  6. galvanism
  7. galvanisms
  8. galvanist
  9. galvanists
  10. galvanization
  11. galvanizations

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: galvanism (page history and authors); Galvanism (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-galvanism.wav.

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