Standard Lemma guide

ataxia

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /əˈtæksɪə/
  • /eɪˈtæksɪə/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: EY1 T AE1 K S IY0 AH0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Lack of coordination while performing voluntary movements, which may appear to be clumsiness, inaccuracy, or instability.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: medicine, pathology, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: ataxy, dystaxia

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The condition of a polymer in which the orientation of the subunits is random

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, physical, uncountable

Topics: chemistry, natural-sciences, organic-chemistry, physical-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

Disorder; irregularity.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, obsolete, uncountable

Examples

  • 1569, John Leslie, A Defence of the Honour of the Right Highe, Mightye and Noble Princesse Marie Quene of Scotlande, Rheims, Book 3, Ye frame an other argumente of inconueniences, as thowghe vnder the womans regimente, Ataxia, that ys to saye disorder moste commonlye creapethe in.
  • 1614, Thomas Adams, The Devills Banket, London: Ralph Mab, The Second Service, Sermon 2, p. 51, Let not Gods eutaxie, Order, by our friuolous scruples be brought to ataxie, Confusion.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: dystaxia

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

inability to coordinate voluntary muscle movements; unsteady movements and staggering gait

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: ataxy, dyssynergia, motor ataxia

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: nervous disorder, neurological disorder, neurological disease

Narrower terms: Friedreich's ataxia, herediatry spinal ataxia, hereditary cerebellar ataxia

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀταξία (ataxía, “disorder”), derived from ἄτακτος (átaktos, “disorderly”). By surface analysis, a- (“not”) + tax- (“order”) + -ia.

Across languages

Translations

25 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: atàxia — lack of coordination
  • Chinese Mandarin: 共濟失調 /共济失调 (gòngjìshītiáo) — lack of coordination
  • Czech: ataxie — lack of coordination
  • Dutch: ataxie — lack of coordination
  • Esperanto: ataksio — lack of coordination
  • Finnish: ataksia — lack of coordination
  • French: ataxie — lack of coordination
  • Galician: ataxia — lack of coordination
  • Galician: mal cativo — lack of coordination
  • German: Ataxie — lack of coordination
  • Greek: αταξία (ataxía) — lack of coordination
  • Ido: ataxio — lack of coordination
  • Indonesian: ataksia — lack of coordination
  • Irish: ataicse — lack of coordination
  • Irish: neamhluail — lack of coordination
  • Italian: atassia — lack of coordination
  • Japanese: 失調 (shitchō) — lack of coordination
  • Kazakh: атаксия (ataksiä) — lack of coordination
  • Norwegian Bokmål: ataksi — lack of coordination
  • Persian: آتاکسی — lack of coordination
  • Polish: ataksja — lack of coordination
  • Portuguese: ataxia — lack of coordination
  • Russian: атакси́я (ataksíja) — lack of coordination
  • Spanish: ataxia — lack of coordination
  • Swedish: ataxi — lack of coordination
Real reading context

ataxia in complete knowledge articles