Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A painful wrenching or laceration of the ligaments of a joint.
  • noun The condition resulting from a sprain.
  • transitive verb To cause a sprain to (a joint or ligament).

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To press; push.
  • To overstrain, as the muscles or ligaments of a joint so as to injure them, but without luxation or dislocation.
  • noun A violent straining or wrenching of the soft parts surrounding a joint, without dislocation.
  • noun The injury caused by spraining; a sprained joint.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act or result of spraining; lameness caused by spraining.
  • noun (Med.) the separation of a tendon from its point of insertion, with the detachment of a shell of bone to which the tendon is attached.
  • transitive verb To weaken, as a joint, ligament, or muscle, by sudden and excessive exertion, as by wrenching; to overstrain, or stretch injuriously, but without luxation.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The act or result of spraining; lameness caused by spraining; as, a bad sprain of the wrist.
  • verb To weaken, as a joint, ligament, or muscle, by sudden and excessive exertion, as by wrenching; to overstrain, or stretch injuriously, but without luxation; as, to sprain one's ankle.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb twist suddenly so as to sprain
  • noun a painful injury to a joint caused by a sudden wrenching of its ligaments

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Origin unknown.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

1601, verb attested 1622. Possibly from Middle French espraindre ("to press out, to wring"), from Latin exprimere, in which case cognate to express.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word sprain.

Examples

  • Hollins, who has missed the past week with a mild ankle sprain, is averaging 12.2 points and 10.4 rebounds for Fort Worth. ...

    USATODAY.com - Basketball - Boston vs. Charlotte 2006

  • It seems that one of the things that happens with a sprain is "proprioceptive deficit" which is a fancy way to say that you joint ability to "sense" where it is vs where it should be is reduced.

    SMA cobblestones make you healthier 2005

  • They are similar to what is commonly called a sprain, but as they are

    Papers on Health John Kirk

  • A third-degree sprain translates into a ligament tear.

    theadvertiser.com - 2010

  • Nowitzki turns his ankle on Sunday, McGrady’s back tightens up last night … if Gilbert’s sprain is not bad, 2 weeks might be doable since you know he’s going to go 24-hr rehab.

    Matthew Yglesias » When It Rains 2007

  • When the MRI came back, he did have a deltoid side ankle ligament sprain, which is what we saw all the bleeding from last night….

    T.O. Terrell Owens 2006

  • When the MRI came back, he did have a deltoid side ankle ligament sprain, which is what we saw all the bleeding from last night….

    T.O. Terrell Owens 2006

  • "He has a high ankle sprain, which is a much more difficult sprain," Lowe said.

    National Basketball Association - Bucks vs. Rockets 2000

  • -- A sprain is usually the result of some involuntary stress coming upon the part.

    Papers on Health John Kirk

  • A twist or strain of the ligaments and soft parts about a joint is known as a sprain, and may result from a great variety of accidents.

    A Practical Physiology Albert F. Blaisdell

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.