spastic

Learned borrowing from Latin spasticus, from Ancient Greek σπαστικός (spastikós, “drawing in”). By surface analysis, spasm +‎ -tic. Compare French spastique and see also spasm.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈspastɪk/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈspæstɪk/

• Audio (AU)

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• Rhymes: -æstɪk

spastic (comparative more spastic, superlative most spastic)

1. (pathology) Of, relating to, or affected by spasm.
2. (pathology) Of or relating to spastic paralysis.
3. (slang, derogatory, offensive in the UK) Clumsy.
4. (slang, derogatory, offensive in the UK) Hyperactive, excited, and acting in a random manner.

See the usage notes about the noun, below.

spastic (plural spastics)

1. (now offensive, especially in UK) A person affected by spastic paralysis or spastic cerebral palsy.
2. (slang, derogatory, offensive especially in UK) A stupid, clumsy person.
   • 1 December 1997, Peter Baynham, Steve Coogan & Armando Iannucci, “To Kill a Mocking Alan”, in I'm Alan Partridge:

     Jed Maxwell: See you next week then. We'll have that pint.
     Alan Partridge: Yep.
     Jed Maxwell: ...go and see my brother.
     Alan Partridge: No way, you big spastic! You're a mentalist!

The offensiveness of spastic and spaz differs considerably between the US and the UK. In the United States, the terms are usually inoffensive outside of the disability community; in the UK, they are broadly offensive and typically taken as denigrating references to those with cerebral palsy. Consequently, University of Sussex linguist Lynne Murphy has described spastic as "one of the most taboo insults to a British ear",[1] and in a 2003 survey by the BBC it was voted the second-most offensive word relating to disability (after retard).[2][3]

• scoper
• spack
• spacker
• spaz, spazz

• spastic in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “spastic”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

• cat piss

spastic (not comparable)

1. spastic

• spasmo

From French spastique.

spastic m or n (feminine singular spastică, masculine plural spastici, feminine and neuter plural spastice)

1. spastic