petit mal

Meanings

nounpetit mal (uncountable)

uncountablemedicineA form of epilepsy where the seizures are characterized as minor, the person becomes vacant or unaware, but not involving spasms and unconsciousness. These seizures are usually brief, lasting up to 30 seconds, and may include twitching. A formal medical term would be absence seizures.
Petit mal seizures are also known as absence seizures, which cause a loss of consciousness that is usually brief and barely noticeable. The neurons in a normal brain communicate by firing tiny electric signals.
2010, Carol Turkington, Joseph Harris, The Encyclopedia of the Brain and Brain Disorders, 3rd edition, Infobase Publishing, →ISBN, page 289

nounepilepsy characterized by paroxysmal attacks of brief clouding of consciousness (and possibly other abnormalities)

Similar

petit mal epilepsyepilepsia minor

Broader

nouna seizure of short duration characterized by momentary unconsciousness and local muscle spasms or twitching

Similar

epilepsia minor

Broader

epileptic seizure

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Borrowed from French petit mal (literally “little illness”).

More words from French

Catalan petit mal

Danish petit mal, absence

Finnish pieni kohtaus

French absence épileptique, petit mal

Russian ма́лый эпилепти́ческий припа́док

ма́лый эпилепти́ческий припа́док (mályj epileptíčeskij pripádok)form of epilepsy

Spanish crisis de ausencia, vahído

Cite this entry

APA

petit mal. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/petit%20mal

MLA

“petit mal.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/petit%20mal. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “petit mal,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/petit%20mal.