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paralysis

noun

  1. state of being unable to move
  2. to make powerless
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Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /pəˈɹæləsəs/

noun

Etymology: Borrowed from Latin paralysis, from Ancient Greek παράλυσις (parálusis, “palsy”), from παραλύω (paralúō, “to disable on one side”). By surface analysis, para- + -lysis. Doublet of palsy.

  1. The complete loss of voluntary control of part of a person's body, such as one or more limbs.
  2. A state of being unable to act.

    The government has been in a paralysis since it lost its majority in the parliament.

    Until then, the Sunak administration remains a study in ineffectuality on multiple fronts, leading Goldsmith to cite, not unreasonably, “a kind of paralysis”.