cephalalgia
noun
Simple meaning
Pain in the head caused by dilation of cerebral arteries or muscle contractions or a reaction to drugs.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
sehfuhlaljuhSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈsɛfəˈlældʒə
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
medicine
Pain in the head caused by dilation of cerebral arteries or muscle contractions or a reaction to drugs
medicine
A pain in the head; headache.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: Pain in the head caused by dilation of cerebral arteries or muscle contractions or a reaction to drugs
Used this way, cephalalgia is a specialist word with a faintly unfavourable edge. This is a clinical use: it belongs to medical description, where it is factual rather than emotive.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly negative
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Clinical and detached
Where it naturally appears
- Medicine/healthcare
- Science
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Nearby words
- head ache , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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