Standard Lemma guide

trauma

noun · 6 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.

  • UK: /ˈtɹɔː.mə/
  • UK: /ˈtɹaʊ.mə/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: /ˈtɹɔ.mə/
  • US: /ˈtɹaʊ.mə/
  • cot-caught-merger: /ˈtɹɑ.mə/
  • rhymes with -ɔːmə
  • rhymes with -aʊmə
  • CMU ARPABET: T R AO1 M AH0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Any injury to the body of a living thing.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • Near-synonyms: insult (contextually synonymous); see also Thesaurus:injury
  • mild trauma
  • major trauma

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: insult, injury, wound, scath, scathe, lesion, dere

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Any injury to the body of a living thing.

Serious injury, resulting from predation, violence, an accident such as a fall, a vehicle crash, etc.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, specifically, uncountable, usually

Examples

  • We're not talking about paper cuts or sprains here — we're talking about trauma.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: insult, injury, wound, scath, scathe, lesion, dere

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

An emotional wound leading to psychological injury.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • What these patients eventually realized was that they all had trauma that had fed into their addictions.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

An event that causes great distress.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • The earthquake here 14 years ago was a national trauma that still affects the economy today.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

an emotional wound or shock often having long-lasting effects

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: psychic trauma

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: psychological state, psychological condition, mental state, mental condition

Narrower terms: birth trauma

6

noun

Meaning 6

any physical damage to the body caused by violence or accident or fracture etc.

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: injury, hurt, harm

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: ill health, unhealthiness, health problem

Narrower terms: brain damage, birth trauma, blast trauma, bleeding, hemorrhage, haemorrhage, blunt trauma, bruise, contusion, bump, burn, dislocation, electric shock, fracture, break, frostbite, cryopathy, intravasation, penetrating trauma, penetrating injury, pinch, rupture, sting, bite, insect bite, strain, whiplash, whiplash injury, wale, welt, weal, wheal, wound, lesion, wrench, twist, pull

History

Etymology

From Ancient Greek τραῦμα (traûma, “wound, damage”).

Across languages

Translations

141 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: إِصَابَة (ʔiṣāba) — serious injury to the body
  • Armenian: վնասվածք (vnasvackʻ) — serious injury to the body
  • Azerbaijani: zədə — serious injury to the body
  • Azerbaijani: travma — serious injury to the body
  • Belarusian: тра́ўма (tráwma) — serious injury to the body
  • Belarusian: ра́на (rána) — serious injury to the body
  • Bengali: আঘাত (aghat) — serious injury to the body
  • Bulgarian: тра́вма (trávma) — serious injury to the body
  • Bulgarian: ра́на (rána) — serious injury to the body
  • Chinese Mandarin: 負傷 /负伤 (fùshāng) — serious injury to the body
  • Chinese Mandarin: 損傷 /损伤 (sǔnshāng) — serious injury to the body
  • Chinese Mandarin: 外傷 /外伤 (wàishāng) — serious injury to the body
  • Chinese Mandarin: 創傷 /创伤 (chuāngshāng) — serious injury to the body
  • Czech: trauma — serious injury to the body
  • Czech: úraz — serious injury to the body
  • Danish: traume — serious injury to the body
  • Danish: men — serious injury to the body
  • Dutch: trauma — serious injury to the body
  • Esperanto: traŭmato — serious injury to the body
  • Finnish: vamma — serious injury to the body
  • Finnish: ruumiinvamma — serious injury to the body
  • Finnish: trauma — serious injury to the body
  • French: traumatisme — serious injury to the body
  • French: trauma — serious injury to the body
  • Galician: trauma — serious injury to the body
  • Galician: traumatismo — serious injury to the body
  • Georgian: ტრავმა (ṭravma) — serious injury to the body
  • German: Trauma — serious injury to the body
  • Greek: τραύμα (trávma) — serious injury to the body
  • Hebrew: טְרָאוּמָה (trá'uma) — serious injury to the body
  • Hindi: आघात (āghāt) — serious injury to the body
  • Hungarian: trauma — serious injury to the body
  • Hungarian: sérülés — serious injury to the body
  • Hungarian: seb — serious injury to the body
  • Hungarian: sebesülés — serious injury to the body
  • Indonesian: trauma — serious injury to the body
  • Italian: trauma — serious injury to the body
  • Japanese: 外傷 (gaishō) — serious injury to the body
  • Japanese: 損傷 (sonshō) — serious injury to the body
  • Kazakh: жарақат (jaraqat) — serious injury to the body
  • Korean: 외상 (oesang) — serious injury to the body
  • Korean: 손상 (sonsang) — serious injury to the body
  • Northern Kurdish: birîn — serious injury to the body
  • Kyrgyz: жаракат (jarakat) — serious injury to the body
  • Macedonian: траума (trauma) — serious injury to the body
  • Māori: ngaukino — serious injury to the body
  • Māori: pāmamaetanga — serious injury to the body
  • Mongolian: гэмтэл (gemtel) — serious injury to the body
  • Mongolian: ᠭᠡᠮᠲᠦᠯ (gemtül) — serious injury to the body
  • Persian: ضربت (zarbat) — serious injury to the body
  • Persian: ضربه (zarbe) — serious injury to the body
  • Persian: آسیب (âsib) — serious injury to the body
  • Persian: جراحت (jerâhat) — serious injury to the body
  • Polish: uraz — serious injury to the body
  • Polish: trauma — serious injury to the body
  • Portuguese: traumatismo — serious injury to the body
  • Romanian: traumatism — serious injury to the body
  • Russian: тра́вма (trávma) — serious injury to the body
  • Russian: ра́на (rána) — serious injury to the body
  • Serbo-Croatian: тра̀ума — serious injury to the body
  • Serbo-Croatian: tràuma — serious injury to the body
  • Slovak: trauma — serious injury to the body
  • Slovak: úraz — serious injury to the body
  • Slovak: zranenie — serious injury to the body
  • Slovene: travma — serious injury to the body
  • Slovene: poškodba — serious injury to the body
  • Spanish: traumatismo — serious injury to the body
  • Tajik: осеб (oseb) — serious injury to the body
  • Tajik: ҷароҳат (jarohat) — serious injury to the body
  • Tatar: җәрәхәт (cäräxät) — serious injury to the body
  • Thai: การบาดเจ็บ — serious injury to the body
  • Turkish: travma — serious injury to the body
  • Turkish: sakatlık — serious injury to the body
  • Ukrainian: тра́вма (trávma) — serious injury to the body
  • Ukrainian: ра́на (rána) — serious injury to the body
  • Uyghur: جاراھەت (jarahet) — serious injury to the body
  • Uzbek: travma — serious injury to the body
  • Uzbek: yara — serious injury to the body
  • Uzbek: jarohat — serious injury to the body
  • Vietnamese: chấn thương — serious injury to the body
  • Afrikaans: trauma — emotional wound
  • Arabic: صَدْمَةٌ عَاطِفِيَّة (ṣadmatun ʕāṭifiyya) — emotional wound
  • Belarusian: тра́ўма (tráwma) — emotional wound
  • Belarusian: ра́на (rána) — emotional wound
  • Central Bikol: raya — emotional wound
  • Bulgarian: тра́вма (trávma) — emotional wound
  • Chinese Cantonese: 陰影 /阴影 (jam1 jing2) — emotional wound
  • Chinese Cantonese: 精神創傷 /精神创伤 (zing1 san4 cong3 soeng1) — emotional wound
  • Chinese Mandarin: 精神創傷 /精神创伤 (jīngshén chuāngshāng) — emotional wound
  • Chinese Mandarin: 心理陰影 /心理阴影 (xīnlǐ yīnyǐng) — emotional wound
  • Czech: trauma — emotional wound
  • Danish: traume — emotional wound
  • Danish: men — emotional wound
  • Dutch: trauma — emotional wound
  • Esperanto: traŭmato — emotional wound
  • Finnish: trauma — emotional wound
  • French: traumatisme — emotional wound
  • Galician: trauma — emotional wound
  • Georgian: ტრავმა (ṭravma) — emotional wound
  • German: Trauma — emotional wound
  • Hebrew: טְרָאוּמָה (trá'uma) — emotional wound
  • Hungarian: trauma — emotional wound
  • Hungarian: megrázkódtatás — emotional wound
  • Indonesian: trauma — emotional wound
  • Italian: trauma — emotional wound
  • Japanese: トラウマ (torauma) — emotional wound
  • Japanese: 心的外傷 (shinteki gaishō) — emotional wound
  • Japanese: 心の傷 (kokoro no kizu) — emotional wound
  • Korean: 정신적 외상 (jeongsinjeok oesang) — emotional wound
  • Northern Kurdish: trawma — emotional wound
  • Māori: whētuki — emotional wound
  • Māori: ngaukino — emotional wound
  • Polish: trauma — emotional wound
  • Polish: uraz psychiczny — emotional wound
  • Portuguese: trauma — emotional wound
  • Romanian: traumă — emotional wound
  • Russian: тра́вма (trávma) — emotional wound
  • Russian: ра́на (rána) — emotional wound
  • Serbo-Croatian: тра̀ума — emotional wound
  • Serbo-Croatian: tràuma — emotional wound
  • Spanish: trauma — emotional wound
  • Turkish: sarsıntı — emotional wound
  • Turkish: travma — emotional wound
  • Ukrainian: тра́вма (trávma) — emotional wound
  • Ukrainian: ра́на (rána) — emotional wound
  • Afrikaans: trauma — event
  • Chinese Mandarin: 痛苦的經歷 /痛苦的经历 (tòngkǔ de jīnglì) — event
  • Chinese Mandarin: 挫折 (cuòzhé) — event
  • Dutch: trauma — event
  • Finnish: trauma — event
  • French: traumatisme — event
  • Georgian: ტრავმა (ṭravma) — event
  • German: Trauma — event
  • Hebrew: טְרָאוּמָה (trá'uma) — event
  • Hungarian: megrázó/traumatikus esemény — event
  • Northern Kurdish: trawma — event
  • Māori: whētuki — event
  • Portuguese: trauma — event
  • Russian: тра́вма (trávma) — event
  • Spanish: trauma — event
  • Turkish: travma — event
Real reading context

trauma in complete knowledge articles

Vacuum mattress Technology & inventions · Challenging · 3 uses