Synonyms of paralysis

paralysis

noun

pə-ˈra-lə-səs 

as in disability

complete or partial loss of physical function (as motion or sensation) in a part of the body

the car accident left one athlete with paralysis from the waist down

Synonyms & Similar Words

• disability
• impairment
• palsy
• weakness
• poliomyelitis
• debility
• feebleness
• cerebral palsy
• debilitation
• lameness
• decrepitude
• multiple sclerosis
• paresis
• hemiplegia
• infirmity
• paraplegia
• frailty
• enfeeblement
• quadriplegia
• diplegia
• frailness
• spastic paralysis

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• mobility
• sensation
• motility

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of paralysis

The paralysis has left lawmakers in both parties without answers. — Gabe Kaminsky, CBS News, 7 Oct. 2026

Pic follows Evans in the 10 days after bassist Scott LaFaro’s sudden death as grief, addiction and creative paralysis threaten to silence one of jazz’s great innovators. — Mike Fleming Jr, Deadline, 6 Oct. 2026

This structure cements a type of paralysis for employers, which until recently, had almost no access to prices or their own data — but have continued to write the checks anyway. — Bob Herman, STAT, 5 Oct. 2026

The story of twenty-first-century China, then, is not just one of demographic decline but also one of political paralysis—and what happens when those two intersect. — Carl Minzner, Foreign Affairs, 5 Oct. 2026