spastic abasia
- noun
- /ˈspæstɪk əˈbeɪziə/
- Specialized
:
abasia espástica
- The patient's diagnosis of spastic abasia explained his difficulty in walking.
Examples
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The patient suffers from spastic abasia due to neurological damage.
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The neurologist confirmed a diagnosis of spastic abasia, which explained why the patient had difficulty walking.
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After her stroke, she developed spastic abasia and needed physical therapy.
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Neurologists observed symptoms consistent with spastic abasia during the examination.
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After the accident, he developed spastic abasia and needed therapy.
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After her stroke, she developed spastic abasia and needed physical therapy to improve her mobility.
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Due to his spastic abasia, the patient required assistance with daily movements and rehabilitation exercises.
Synonyms
Cannot walk because the legs cannot move or be controlled
Surface Forms
Morphology
The term is fully compositional: 'abasia' denotes inability to walk and 'spastic' specifies that the muscles are stiff or spasm-prone, so the combined meaning ('inability to walk caused by spastic muscle contractions') follows directly from the parts. This medical compound follows transparent modifier+noun composition and is cross-linguistically similar, so a learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Spastic abasia combines spastic, meaning muscles that tighten suddenly, and abasia, from old words meaning 'not walking', giving the clear picture of legs that tighten and cannot move. So, spastic abasia means 'not able to walk because the leg muscles are too tight'.
