1
as in cramps
a painful sudden tightening of a muscle
he suffers terribly from back spasms
Synonyms & Similar Words
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2
as in bursts
a sudden intense expression of strong feeling
a spasm of love that he had never experienced before
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of spasms
This Hong Kong film’s guiding force is So Wa Wai (Chung-Hang Leung), a real athlete whose aspirations were nearly thwarted by cerebral spasms that made even walking difficult.
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Chris Snellgrove, Entertainment Weekly, 2 Jan. 2026
Dion has continued to battle stiff-person disorder, a rare disease that attacks the nervous system and causes pain and muscle spasms.
—Tomás Mier, Rolling Stone, 31 Dec. 2025
Arellano said her spasms initially started in one arm, then progressed to both arms and then to full body spasms.
—Mustafa Fattah, NBC news, 24 Dec. 2025
James, who recently returned to the lineup following missing almost the first full month of the season with lower back spasms, has re-integrated with the team.
—Tyler Erzberger, MSNBC Newsweek, 9 Dec. 2025
Smart was ruled out against the Suns on Monday afternoon because of lower back injury management – a change in injury designation after being listed as out for last Friday’s victory over the Dallas Mavericks and Sunday night’s win against the New Orleans Pelicans because of back spasms.
—Khobi Price, Oc Register, 2 Dec. 2025
Queta and Brown both were listed as questionable for Saturday’s game, with the latter nursing low back spasms.
—Zack Cox, Boston Herald, 30 Nov. 2025
Moments later, the spasms began.
—Sean Williams, Outside, 27 Oct. 2025
Edwards was questionable ahead of the season opener in Portland with back spasms, but played and scored 41 points against the Blazers.
—Jace Frederick, Twin Cities, 26 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for spasms
Noun
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The vaccine campaign has been so effective that today, many pediatric medical residents have never encountered an infant hospitalized because of the infection, which can cause days of diarrhea, vomiting, cramps and fever.—
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The loss of fluids and electrolytes can cause lightheadedness, excessive thirst, and muscle cramps.—
Noun
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After testing the interest of sports fans in short-form content, Disney aims to bring brief bursts to a broader audience.—
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Operating for thousands of daily cycles over decades trumps quick bursts of power.—
Noun
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The explosions caused secondary fires that torched neighborhoods, according to the suit.—
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Test explosions became increasingly rare.—
Noun
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As 6-7 went viral, teachers complained that random outbursts by their students were interrupting their lessons.—
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The war was officially declared over in July 2003 but violent outbursts continued.—
Noun
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The world often failed to use those political eruptions to actually improve the lot of the people in those countries.—
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On top of that, cosmic rays and the Sun's own eruptions can upset electronics.—
Noun
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Benson has shown flashes of being a very productive player, but needs to do it consistently at the big-league level.—
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Symptoms include seeing flashes of light, spots in your vision (eye floaters), blurred vision and darkening of peripheral vision.—
Noun
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Sustained, strong winds with even stronger gusts are happening.—
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Winds turn gusty behind the front, with northwest gusts up to 25 to 35 mph Sunday evening and overnight.—
Cite this Entry
“Spasms.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/spasms. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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