noun
1. the use of electricity to administer punishment or torture (Freq. 1)
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they used cattle prods to administer electric shocks
• Hypernyms: ↑corporal punishment, ↑torture, ↑torturing
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
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subjects received a small electric shock when they made the wrong response
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electricians get accustomed to occasional shocks
• Syn: ↑electrical shock, ↑shock
• Hypernyms:
↑reflex, ↑reflex response, ↑reflex action, ↑instinctive reflex, ↑innate reflex, ↑inborn reflex, ↑unconditioned reflex, ↑physiological reaction
* * *
a sudden painful feeling that you get when electricity passes through your body
•
I got an electric shock from that light switch.
See also: ↑shock
Useful english dictionary. 2012.