status epilepticus
noun
Simple meaning
A serious and potentially life-threatening condition in which an epileptic seizure becomes prolonged or multiple seizures occur successively without regaining of functions interictally.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
statuhsuhpuhleptihkuhsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈstætəsɛpəlɛptɪkəs
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
pathology
A serious and potentially life-threatening condition in which an epileptic seizure becomes prolonged or multiple seizures occur successively without regaining of functions interictally.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (pathology) A serious and potentially life-threatening condition in which an epileptic seizure becomes prolonged or multiple seizures occur successively without regaining of functions interictally.
Used this way, status epilepticus is a specialist word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It carries more force than its gentler alternatives. This is a clinical use: it belongs to medical description, where it is factual rather than emotive.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Strong
- 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.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
Share your sentence
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “status epilepticus” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.