He went into paroxysms of laughter. a paroxysm of laughter greeted the pratfall

Recent Examples on the Web

But nothing prepared her for what happened on Aug. 26 in Salesforce.com Inc., when its quarterly results ignited a paroxysm of buying that pushed the shares 26% higher in a day. Sarah Ponczek, Bloomberg.com, "Huge Swings in Options-Overrun Stocks Leave Manager Baffled," 5 Sep. 2020

Immune System Gone Wrong When the paroxysms finally stopped, the man felt exhausted — as if all his energy had left with the contents of his digestive system. Lisa Sanders, New York Times, "His Immune System Went Out of Whack. The Usual Treatment Didn’t Work. Why?," 18 Mar. 2020

That plan to become a public company is in limbo as Airbnb’s revenue vanishes and the stock market endures stomach-churning paroxysms. Carolyn Said, SFChronicle.com, "Airbnb, hosts struggle as travel plunges," 28 Mar. 2020

As the spread of the pandemic accelerates by the day, even libertarians have begrudgingly accepted that heavy-handed government intervention will be necessary, and deficit hawks’ ongoing paroxysms over federal spending have all but evaporated. J.c. Pan, The New Republic, "Our Never-Ending Recession," 20 Mar. 2020

For the left, this is just the latest paroxysm of a dysfunctional and doomed capitalism. The Economist, "We all want to change the world Economics, demography and social media only partly explain the protests roiling so many countries today," 14 Nov. 2019

Yes, my son falls into paroxysms of despair over the feel of his socks. Nicole Graev Lipson, Washington Post, "How recognizing my child’s ‘tragic flaw’ made me a better parent," 28 Feb. 2020

Arthur, who has nothing to smile (let alone chuckle) about, suffers from a physical condition in which he is frequently racked by noisy, uncontrollable paroxysms of laughter, an affliction that feels almost cosmic in its cruelty. Los Angeles Times, "Review: Joaquin Phoenix puts on quite a show in ‘Joker.’ And the portrait of madness is both bleak and glib," 1 Oct. 2019

Michigan Saturday, noon ET, Fox Warning: the following statement could cause paroxysms of indignation among college football fans. Eddie Timanus, USA TODAY, "Five games in Week 14 that will impact the College Football Playoff race," 29 Nov. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'paroxysm.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.