The Collaborative International Dictionary
catatonia \cat`a*ton"ia\ n. [Gr. katatonos, stretching down,
depressed, fr. kata` down + to`nos stretching, straining,
tone (sound).
--Stedman.] (Psychiatry)
an abnormal behavioral syndrome characterized by stupor,
negativism, and muscular rigidity, sometimes alternating with
purposeless excitement, and seen most frequently in
schizophrenia; called also catatonic schizophrenia.
WordNet
n. a form of schizophrenia characterized by a tendency to remain in a fixed stuporous state for long periods; the catatonia may give way to short periods of extreme excitement [syn: catatonic type schizophrenia, catatonia]
Usage examples of "catatonic schizophrenia".
They say I am mad, but I am not mad-damn it, I've written and sold two million words of fiction and I know better than to start a story like that, but this isn't a story and they do say I'm mad-catatonic schizophrenia with assaultive episodes-and I'm not.