ELECTRIC SHOCK

Pronunciation (US):

• ELECTRIC SHOCK (noun)
  The noun ELECTRIC SHOCK has 3 senses:

1. the use of electricity to administer punishment or torture
2. trauma caused by the passage of electric current through the body (as from contact with high voltage lines or being struck by lightning); usually involves burns and abnormal heart rhythm and unconsciousness
3. a reflex response to the passage of electric current through the body

  Familiarity information: ELECTRIC SHOCK used as a noun is uncommon.

• ELECTRIC SHOCK (noun)

Meaning:

The use of electricity to administer punishment or torture

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

they used cattle prods to administer electric shocks

Hypernyms ("electric shock" is a kind of...):

torture; torturing (the deliberate, systematic, or wanton infliction of physical or mental suffering by one or more persons in an attempt to force another person to yield information or to make a confession or for any other reason)

corporal punishment (the infliction of physical injury on someone convicted of committing a crime)

Meaning:

Trauma caused by the passage of electric current through the body (as from contact with high voltage lines or being struck by lightning); usually involves burns and abnormal heart rhythm and unconsciousness

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("electric shock" is a kind of...):

harm; hurt; injury; trauma (any physical damage to the body caused by violence or accident or fracture etc.)

Meaning:

A reflex response to the passage of electric current through the body

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

electrical shock; electric shock; shock

Context examples:

subjects received a small electric shock when they made the wrong response / electricians get accustomed to occasional shocks

Hypernyms ("electric shock" is a kind of...):

inborn reflex; innate reflex; instinctive reflex; physiological reaction; reflex; unconditioned reflex (an automatic instinctive unlearned reaction to a stimulus)