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Glite Dictionary
total aphasia

total aphasia

8.5
A complete loss of the ability to speak or understand language
  • noun
  • /ˈtoʊtəl əˈfeɪʒə/
  • Specialized
translation icon : afasia total
  • Doctors diagnosed her with total aphasia after she lost all capacity for speech and comprehension.

Examples

  • Following the stroke, the patient developed total aphasia and was unable to communicate even basic needs.

  • Treatment for total aphasia often involves intensive speech and language therapy.

  • The patient was diagnosed with total aphasia after the stroke.

  • After the accident, she suffered from total aphasia.

  • Doctors diagnosed her with total aphasia after she lost all capacity for speech and comprehension.

  • Following the stroke, the patient developed total aphasia and was unable to communicate even basic needs.

  • The patient began to show signs of total aphasia, which left him unable to understand any spoken words.

Synonyms

global aphasia
vstotal aphasia
  • Specialized
8.2

A severe loss of almost all ability to understand and use language after brain damage

is complete loss of all ability to understand and produce language

Antonyms

fluent
4 2.8

Expressing yourself easily and clearly in speech, writing, or performance

Surface Forms

total aphasia singular
total aphasias plural

Morphology

total + aphasia

The phrase is fully compositional: 'aphasia' means loss of language ability and 'total' denotes completeness, so together they denote a complete loss of communication. This follows a regular adjective + noun pattern and is cross-linguistically predictable, so a B1 learner who knows both words can derive the meaning.

Etymology

Total aphasia combines total (meaning complete) and aphasia (from Greek for 'no speech'). The image is of a person's language being completely shut off, so the term describes someone who is 'unable to speak' and 'unable to understand'.