How to Use paralytic in a Sentence

paralytic

1 of 2 adjective
  • Second, the one case of paralytic polio may be the tip of a large iceberg.
    — Deblina Chakraborty, CNN, 15 Sep. 2022
  • And Haddad wants to explore whether the use of a paralytic drug is necessary.
    — Jen Fifield, The Arizona Republic, 5 Aug. 2021
  • As if the great metropolis of New York were in paralytic shock.
    — New York Times, 3 Dec. 2020
  • Assuming that the account in her journal is true, her father goes out and drinks himself into a ‘paralytic’ state.
    — Literary Hub, 28 May 2026
  • The paralytic drug was the second given before the execution team gave Otte a drug that stopped his heart.
    — Staff, cleveland.com, 13 Sep. 2017
  • He was injected with the three-drug mix of an anesthetic, a paralytic and potassium acetate, which stops the heart.
    — Robert McGreevy, FOXNews.com, 22 Apr. 2026
  • The blooms of toxic algae are linked to paralytic shellfish poisoning.
    — Tegan Hanlon, Anchorage Daily News, 6 July 2019
  • Few illnesses drive home the toll of anti-vaccine movements like paralytic polio.
    — Dhruv Khullar, The New Yorker, 22 Aug. 2022
  • The news came weeks after New York state reported the country’s first case of paralytic polio in about a decade.
    — Robert Hart, Forbes, 16 Aug. 2022
  • For one thing, enteroviruses were already linked to paralytic illnesses—poliovirus is a type of enterovirus.
    — Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 10 July 2019
  • The paralytic effect typically lasts for four to six minutes.
    — Peter D'abrosca, FOXNews.com, 27 Jan. 2026
  • The paralytic effect typically lasts for four to six minutes.
    — Peter D'abrosca, FOXNews.com, 29 Jan. 2026
  • The paralytic effect typically lasts for four to six minutes.
    — Peter D'abrosca, FOXNews.com, 30 Jan. 2026
  • The paralytic effect typically lasts for four to six minutes.
    — Peter D'abrosca, FOXNews.com, 31 Jan. 2026
  • In one iteration of the course, the scientists added a paralytic agent to the bacteria, to test whether the worms would sniff out the tastier pile on their first try.
    — Matt Hrodey, Discover Magazine, 30 Apr. 2023
  • But health officials say Alaskans who self-harvest shellfish should still be aware of the risks of paralytic shellfish poisoning.
    — Annie Berman, Anchorage Daily News, 23 Apr. 2022
  • As the virus hacked its way through the neural tissue of the spinal cord, a few of those infected were paralysed; this progression of the virus was known as paralytic polio.
    — Krista Stevens, Longreads, 26 May 2020
  • To date this year there have been only eight cases of paralytic polio diagnosed, in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
    — Helen Branswell, STAT, 25 May 2018
  • Public health experts warn that a decline in polio vaccination will likely lead to the re-emergence of paralytic disease.
    — Judy Stone, Forbes.com, 24 Jan. 2026
  • Between 2% and 10% of cases of paralytic polio are fatal, since the virus can destroy the nerves that control breathing.
    — Aria Bendix, NBC News, 5 Aug. 2022
  • The spore-forming, soil-dwelling bacterium produces a nerve toxin, causing the rare, paralytic illness known as botulism.
    — Rebecca Kreston, Discover Magazine, 23 May 2013
  • Less than 1% of polio cases are paralytic, according to the CDC.
    — Kyla Guilfoil, ABC News, 19 Aug. 2022
  • This comes as no surprise since last month a case of paralytic polio was confirmed in a resident in Rockland County -- just on the outskirts of the city.
    — Syra Madad, CNN, 13 Aug. 2022
  • Each case of paralytic polio is only the tip of the iceberg and represents often hundreds of additional cases that don’t present with symptoms or look a lot like the flu.
    — Erin Prater, Fortune, 21 Aug. 2022
  • Roughly 5-10% of patients who caught paralytic polio died, although this number was far higher in the days before widespread use of the iron lung.
    — Krista Stevens, Longreads, 26 May 2020
  • The virus that causes paralytic polio has been found in New York City sewage samples, according to city and state health departments.
    — WSJ, 13 Aug. 2022
  • During the procedure, the patient is anesthetized, and paralytic drugs are administered to quiet convulsions in the body.
    — Donald Antrim, The New Yorker, 9 Aug. 2021
  • Woodrow Wilson suffered a paralytic stroke in 1919 and the full details of his disability were kept from the public.
    — Washington Post, 19 Nov. 2019
  • And even a little carelessness or complacency could bring Nigeria’s twenty-month stretch of zero cases of paralytic polio to an end.
    — Time, 7 May 2018
  • The strain of poliovirus behind the paralytic case in Rockland last summer was linked to viruses spreading in London and Israel at the time.
    — Beth Mole, Ars Technica, 27 Mar. 2023

paralytic

2 of 2 noun
  • The second drug is a paralytic to halt breathing, and the third stops the heart.
    — Julie Turkewitz and Richard PÉrez-PeÑa, New York Times, 24 Apr. 2017
  • There might be a pension for paralytics, and state aid for those who suffered in person or estate from tempest or wild beasts.
    — Jay Feinman, The Conversation, 15 Jan. 2025
  • But then the needle slipped out of the vein and dumped the paralytic and the potassium chloride into soft tissue.
    — Jen Fifield, The Arizona Republic, 5 Aug. 2021
  • Christ healing the paralytic, left, and Christ walking on water, right.
    — Matthew Martinez, star-telegram, 28 Feb. 2018
  • Harper also got stuck with a paralytic, leading her to collapse to the squalid floor, while the unseen killer scurried away.
    — Matt Webb Mitovich, TVLine, 1 Feb. 2025
  • Additional drugs called paralytics are often added to prevent the body from moving.
    — Popular Science, 28 Jan. 2020
  • Cisatracurium is a paralytic used in surgeries as a skeletal muscle relaxant.
    — Jacob Gershman, WSJ, 13 Aug. 2018
  • That drug was followed by vecuronium bromide, a paralytic, and potassium chloride, which stops the heart.
    — Arkansas Online, 30 Oct. 2021
  • Like normal Botox, baby Botox involves injections of a muscle paralytic.
    — Yasmin Tayag, The Atlantic, 25 Sep. 2024
  • Experts now believe that the paralytic used in the original three-drug protocol masked the torture inmates were experiencing.
    — Dana G. Smith, Scientific American, 23 Sep. 2022
  • The etomidate is followed by rocuronium bromide, a paralytic, and finally, potassium acetate, which stops the heart.
    — Jason Dearen, chicagotribune.com, 24 Aug. 2017
  • The etomidate was followed by rocuronium bromide, a paralytic, and finally, potassium acetate, which stops the heart.
    — USA TODAY, 24 Aug. 2017
  • And while there is less visible blood, Mangino noted that one drug in the common three-drug cocktail is a paralytic meant to keep the condemned still for witnesses' comfort, not to ease the pain of death.
    — Michael Ruiz, Fox News, 23 Mar. 2023
  • Attorneys for the state and the former chief state medical officer who helped draw up the protocol last year said the paralytic is to ensure that Dozier’s breathing muscles stop.
    — Ken Ritter, The Seattle Times, 3 July 2018
  • The traditional three-drug cocktail used sodium thiopental as a sedative and vecuronium bromide or a similar compound as a paralytic.
    — Matt Ford, The New Republic, 25 July 2019
  • By the same logic, dosing prisoners with paralytics can also make executions less traumatic for witnesses.
    — Robbie Gonzalez, WIRED, 11 July 2018
  • Florida’s lethal injections use a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the Department of Corrections.
    — Greg Wehner, FOXNews.com, 19 Dec. 2025
  • Florida’s lethal injections use a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the Department of Corrections.
    — Greg Wehner, FOXNews.com, 21 Nov. 2025
  • Oklahoma's protocol also continues to use a paralytic, an unnecessary and dangerous aspect of the process that serves only to mask problems from public view.
    — Sophie Reardon, CBS News, 28 Oct. 2021
  • Florida's lethal injections are carried out with a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the state Department of Corrections.
    — CBS News, 9 Dec. 2025
  • Florida’s lethal injections are carried out with a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the state Department of Corrections.
    — Greg Wehner, FOXNews.com, 29 Oct. 2025
  • Oklahoma's protocol also continues to use a paralytic, which critics say is an unnecessary and dangerous aspect of the process that serves only to mask problems from public view.
    — Sophie Reardon, CBS News, 28 Oct. 2021
  • Injecting your face with a muscle paralytic three times a year from your early 20s (or even late teens) onward seems like an enormous undertaking, financially and otherwise.
    — Yasmin Tayag, The Atlantic, 25 Sep. 2024
  • Florida executions are done via lethal injection using a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, per the state's Department of Corrections.
    — Madison E. Goldberg, PEOPLE, 19 Dec. 2025
  • Florida's lethal injection protocol uses a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the state Department of Corrections.
    — CBS News, 1 May 2025
  • The state's lethal injection protocol uses a combination of the drugs midazolam as a sedative, vecuronium bromide as a paralytic, and potassium chloride to stop the heart.
    — Andy Rose and Elizabeth Wolfe, CNN, 10 June 2022
  • All Florida executions are carried out by injecting a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the Department of Corrections.
    — David Fischer, Sun Sentinel, 21 Apr. 2026
  • All Florida executions are carried out by lethal injection of a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the Department of Corrections.
    — Cbs Miami Team, CBS News, 25 June 2026
  • Like other states with the death penalty, Tennessee makes lethal injection the default method, using a three-drug cocktail starting with a sedative called midazolam and followed by doses of a paralytic and a heart-stopping toxin.
    — Jacob Gershman, WSJ, 6 Nov. 2018
  • All Florida executions are carried out via lethal injection if a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the Department of Corrections.
    — Cbs Miami Team, CBS News, 30 Apr. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'paralytic.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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