What's the difference between erratic and spasmodic?

Erratic


Definition:

  • (a.) Having no certain course; roving about without a fixed destination; wandering; moving; -- hence, applied to the planets as distinguished from the fixed stars.
  • (a.) Deviating from a wise of the common course in opinion or conduct; eccentric; strange; queer; as, erratic conduct.
  • (a.) Irregular; changeable.
  • (n.) One who deviates from common and accepted opinions; one who is eccentric or preserve in his intellectual character.
  • (n.) A rogue.
  • (n.) Any stone or material that has been borne away from its original site by natural agencies; esp., a large block or fragment of rock; a bowlder.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) This erratic course renders difficult assessment of the efficacy of methods of treatment.
  • (2) As trigger sensitivity was decreased within its usual range, a marked and progressive ventilator response delay occurred which was associated with erratic changes in functional residual capacity as well as dyspnea and tachypnea.
  • (3) Obstacles to successful treatment include an erratic schedule, mistrust of authority, and uncooperative or aggressive behavior.
  • (4) In the wake of a second fatal police shooting in the St Louis area after the death of Michael Brown , concerned citizens are asking why officers had to kill Kajieme Powell, a 25-year-old man who was holding a knife and “behaving erratically.” They want to know why officers don’t shoot someone like Powell in the leg or the arm, rather than aiming for vital organs, or why they don’t just use a less lethal weapon, like a Taser.
  • (5) We attribute the persistence of infection in our patient to erratic usage of antituberculous drugs.
  • (6) Coronary blood flow and coronary perfusion pressure were significantly correlated during the administration of lignocaine; bupivacaine had erratic effects on coronary blood flow and no correlation between coronary blood flow and coronary perfusion pressure was seen.
  • (7) Flynn’s subsequent penchant for inflammatory, erratic and even bigoted statements left few, particularly in security circles, willing to defend him.
  • (8) The president of the European parliament, Martin Schulz, reflecting the deep anger felt in Brussels at the erratic negotiating tactics adopted by Tsipras and Varoufakis, said Greek voters should blame Tsipras for bringing the country to its knees.
  • (9) Cells in optimal (5 x 10(-9) M) but uniform concentrations of N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (FMLP) polarized well and showed a 'persistent random walk' type of locomotion, whereas in supraoptimal concentrations (10(-7) M), the cells took erratic paths and polarized poorly, suggesting that monocytes cannot develop an anteroposterior polarity if hit by ligand molecules at many points on the cell surface simultaneously.
  • (10) It is perhaps not surprising that self-diagnosis and self-medication are common and follow-up attendance is erratic.
  • (11) As far back as 2008, the Wall Street Journal was running front-page pieces , beginning: "Major banks are contributing to the erratic behaviour of a crucial global lending benchmark".
  • (12) The fact that it failed is related to the atomised society left behind by 40 years of the most brutal and erratic of dictatorships.
  • (13) At lower levels the results were somewhat more erratic due to inaccuracies of the various methods at low concentrations.
  • (14) At any rate, the only sparse range of body expressions, the smallness and preference of night activity of these animals and the erratic occurrence of essential behaviour patterns make the investigations more difficult.
  • (15) It has been encouraged by Trump’s often erratic, unfocused behaviour , and the resulting opportunities and dangers arising from weakened American global leadership.
  • (16) Though absorption of ampicillin from capsules was often erratic, its bioavailability was similar in normal and cirrhotic subjects.
  • (17) Moreover, the emotional climate of adolescence, which requires affiliation with peer groups, and a distancing from authority figures such as doctors and parents, is often associated with a deterioration in drug and dietary compliance and with erratic clinic attendance.
  • (18) I learned that the hard way: when I was younger, I played the part of the erratic, irascible drunk in order to have something to write about.
  • (19) Once well-paid, stable work with decent terms and conditions is gradually being replaced by minimum-wage, erratic jobs.
  • (20) Psychiatric patients may also be at special risk for the development of digitoxicity because of erratic drug taking, electrolyte imbalance or increased autonomic tone.

Spasmodic


Definition:

  • (a.) Of or pertaining to spasm; consisting in spasm; occuring in, or characterized by, spasms; as, a spasmodic asthma.
  • (a.) Soon relaxed or exhausted; convulsive; intermittent; as, spasmodic zeal or industry.
  • (n.) A medicine for spasm.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Using a special electromyographic hypodermic needle, we injected botulinum A toxin into one of the vocal folds of two patients with severe spasmodic dysphonia.
  • (2) These experimental findings suggest that stereotactic thalamotomy of the ventrolateral nucleus for spasmodic torticollis should be performed on the side ipsilateral to the contracting SCM muscle.
  • (3) The patient (a 46-year-old woman) suffered from a spasmodic quadriplegia, walking was nearly impossible.
  • (4) 4 ng of botulinum type A toxin per eye were applied in the M. orbicularis oculi as first injection in the 18 patients without spasmodic torticollis.
  • (5) Spasmodic dysphonia (SD) is a low-incidence voice disorder of unknown origin.
  • (6) The first case was a young girl of 16 years of age with a lesion at the D6 level and spasmodic paraparesis.
  • (7) Bilateral TA denervation represents a hopeful new long-term approach to spasmodic dysphonia treatment.
  • (8) The view emerging is that spasmodic dysphonia is a manifestation of disordered motor control involving systems of neurons rather than single anatomical sites.
  • (9) Spasmodic attempts were made to relieve the suffering of Yarmouk’s civilians.
  • (10) To determine the usefulness of EMG-assisted botulinum toxin (BOTOX) injections for the treatment of spasmodic torticollis (ST), we randomized 52 ST patients into two groups and studied them prospectively.
  • (11) Vestibular findings in a group of 35 patients with spasmodic torticollis without other otological or neurological symptoms were reviewed.
  • (12) The purpose of this study was to determine whether adolescents with "spasmodic" dysmenorrhea (SD) versus "congestive" dysmenorrhea (CD) respond differently to naproxen sodium therapy.
  • (13) Further, he maintained that spasmodic constriction of the rectum resulted from dysfunction of this rectosigmoid sphincter.
  • (14) Of them only 13 (0.26% of the total patient material) were spasmodic bronchitis.
  • (15) The patient, a 22 year old woman, presented with a three-year history, with clinical onset of staged spinal pain and cervicobrachial neuralgia, of spasmodic paraparesis with sensory and sphincter disturbances.
  • (16) The first is a hemolysin (100-200,000 mol.wt) which also causes initial spasmodic contractions in larval and adult specimens of Drosophila.
  • (17) Laser-assisted myomectomy may be a feasible alternative to current methods to treat spasmodic dysphonia.
  • (18) Paroxysmal cerebellar ataxia (PCA) is a specific disease which exhibits spasmodic cerebellar ataxia but rarely shows abnormal neurological findings in the intermission.
  • (19) The concept of MVC might be more convincing if MVD can be shown to cure a condition such as spasmodic torticollis, which cannot be remedied by damage to or section of the same cranial nerve or nerves.
  • (20) The authors describe the anatomical and clinical findings in a case of the pure form of Strümpell Lorrain's familial spasmodic paraplegia.