Cramp Meaning
/kɹæmp/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA painful contraction of a muscle which cannot be controlled; (sometimes) a similar pain even without noticeable contraction.
nounThat which confines or contracts.
Sentence Examples
I got a cramp in my leg while swimming.
I got a leg cramp after using the leg press.
Vocabulary Challenge
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CEFR Practice Quiz
A sudden muscle ____ in his leg forced the runner to stop.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *krampôder. Frankish *krampōder. Proto-Germanic *krampôder. Middle Dutch crampeder. Old French crampebor. Middle English crampe English cramp From Middle English crampe, from Old French crampe (“cramp”), from Frankish *krampa (“cramp”), from Proto-West Germanic *krampu, from Proto-Germanic *krampō (“cramp, clasp”). Distant relative of English crop.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"A narrow Fortune is undoubtedly a Cramp to a great Mind."
— 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC:
"How does it grate upon his thankleſs ear, / Crippling his pleaſures with the cramp of fear!"
— 1781 (date written), William Cowper, “Truth”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1782, →OCLC, page 96:
"But the front of the animal , which was in full , was narrow and cramped , and unequal in dignity to the side"
— 1853, Austen Henry Layard, Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon:
"when the gout cramps my joints"
— 1633, John Ford, Perkin Warbeck:
"The […] fabric of universal justice is well cramped and bolted together in all its parts."
— 1780, Edmund Burke, Principles in Politics:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
A sudden muscle ____ in his leg forced the runner to stop.