apoplectic

English

WOTD – 12 June 2007

Etymology

From French apoplectique, from Late Latin apoplēcticus, from Ancient Greek ἀποπληκτικός (apoplēktikós), from ἀπόπληκτος (apóplēktos), from ἀποπλήσσω (apoplḗssō), from ἀπό (apó, “of, from”) + πλήσσω (plḗssō, “I strike”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌæp.əˈplɛk.tɪk/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛktɪk

Adjective

apoplectic (comparative more apoplectic, superlative most apoplectic)

1. (medicine) Of or relating to apoplexy.
2. (figurative) Marked by extreme anger or fury.
   • 1960 July 11, Harper Lee, chapter 11, in To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC:

     Once she heard Jem refer to our father as 'Atticus' and her reaction was apoplectic.

   • 2005 December 12, The New Yorker:

     Speak of the devil—he marches through the door, and becomes apoplectic when he learns of the upheaval.

   • 2011 March 13, Chris Bevan, “Stoke 2 - 1 West Ham”, in BBC‎^[1], archived from the original on 15 February 2026:

     The decision left Potters boss Tony Pulis apoplectic on the touchline, a feeling his West Ham counterpart Avram Grant was to share immediately after the break.

   • 2014 August 27, Stephanie Zacharek, “The Last of Robin Hood Wrestles with a Star's Underage Love”, in The Village Voice‎^[2], archived from the original on 3 September 2014:

     If older man/younger women matchups make many people uncomfortable, the older man/much younger women combo tends to make them apoplectic.

   • 2022, Chuck Klosterman, The Nineties, New York: Penguin Press, →ISBN:

     Yet when one relistens to the original Rock, Rot & Rule broadcast, the most salient element is not the comedy. It’s the apoplectic phone calls from random WFMU listeners.

   • 2023 November 15, Drachinifel, The USN Pacific Submarine Campaign - Hey, the torpedoes are working now! (Jul'43 - Dec'43)‎^[3]:

     Admiral Lockwood took one look at the apoplectic Lieutenant Commander standing in his office, and recorded that he was expecting a volley of invective cursing everyone from Lockwood to the Bureau of Ordinance to the Newport torpedo station to the Pearl Harbor torpedo shop and all of their ancestors back to the fifth generation...

3. (archaic) Effused with blood.

Derived terms

• antiapoplectic
• postapoplectic

Related terms

• apoplectically
• apoplexy

Translations

of or relating to apoplexy

• Catalan: apoplèctic
• Finnish: apoplektinen, halvaus- (fi)
• Galician: apopléctico
• German: apoplektisch (de)
• Greek: αποπληκτικός (el) (apopliktikós)

  Ancient Greek: ἀποπληκτικός (apoplēktikós)

• Polish: apoplektyczny (pl)
• Portuguese: apopléctico, apoplético (pt)
• Romanian: apoplectic (ro) m or n
• Spanish: apopléjico, apoplético
• Swedish: apoplektisk (sv)

marked by extreme anger

• Finnish: (of a person) raivoissaan (fi), raivostunut (fi), (of anger) silmitön (fi)
• Portuguese: apopléctico, apoplético (pt)
• Swedish: apoplektisk (sv)

effused with blood

Noun

apoplectic (plural apoplectics)

1. A person suffering from apoplexy.

Translations

person suffering from apoplexy

• Finnish: halvauspotilas
• Polish: apoplektyk (pl) m, apoplektyczka f

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French apoplectique.

Adjective

apoplectic m or n (feminine singular apoplectică, masculine plural apoplectici, feminine/neuter plural apoplectice)

1. apoplectic

Declension

Declension of apoplectic

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	apoplectic		apoplectică	apoplectici	apoplectice
	definite	apoplecticul		apoplectica	apoplecticii	apoplecticele
genitive- dative	indefinite	apoplectic		apoplectice	apoplectici	apoplectice
	definite	apoplecticului		apoplecticei	apoplecticilor	apoplecticelor