GALVANISM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does galvanism mean? 

• GALVANISM (noun)
  The noun GALVANISM has 2 senses:

1. electricity produced by chemical action

2. the therapeutic application of electricity to the body (as in the treatment of various forms of paralysis)

  Familiarity information: GALVANISM used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GALVANISM (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Electricity produced by chemical action

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Hypernyms ("galvanism" is a kind of...):

electricity (a physical phenomenon associated with stationary or moving electrons and protons)

Derivation:

galvanic (pertaining to or producing electric current by chemical action)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The therapeutic application of electricity to the body (as in the treatment of various forms of paralysis)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

electric healing; electrical healing; electrotherapy; galvanism

Hypernyms ("galvanism" is a kind of...):

therapy ((medicine) the act of caring for someone (as by medication or remedial training etc.))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "galvanism"):

ECT; electroconvulsive therapy; electroshock; electroshock therapy (the administration of a strong electric current that passes through the brain to induce convulsions and coma)

Derivation:

galvanise; galvanize (stimulate (muscles) by administering a shock)

 Context examples 

On this occasion a man of great research in natural philosophy was with us, and excited by this catastrophe, he entered on the explanation of a theory which he had formed on the subject of electricity and galvanism, which was at once new and astonishing to me.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)