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A form of epilepsy where the seizures are characterized as minor, the person becomes vacant or unaware, but not involving spasms and unconsciousness. These seizures are usually brief, lasting up to 30 seconds, and may include twitching. A formal medical term would be absence seizures.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
Topics: medicine, neurology, neuroscience, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
a seizure of short duration characterized by momentary unconsciousness and local muscle spasms or twitching
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- the girl was frightened by her first petit mal
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: epilepsia minor
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: epileptic seizure
epilepsy characterized by paroxysmal attacks of brief clouding of consciousness (and possibly other abnormalities)
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- she has been suffering from petit mal since childhood
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: petit mal epilepsy, epilepsia minor
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: epilepsy
Borrowed from French petit mal (literally “little illness”).
Across languages
Translations
9 source translations are retained for this English entry.
-
Catalan:
petit mal
— form of epilepsy
-
Danish:
petit mal
— form of epilepsy
-
Danish:
absence
— form of epilepsy
-
Finnish:
pieni kohtaus
— form of epilepsy
-
French:
absence épileptique
— form of epilepsy
-
French:
petit mal
— form of epilepsy
-
Russian:
ма́лый эпилепти́ческий припа́док
(mályj epileptíčeskij pripádok)
— form of epilepsy
-
Spanish:
crisis de ausencia
— form of epilepsy
-
Spanish:
vahído
— form of epilepsy
