trauma

plural traumas · plural traumata

1. countableuncountableAny injury to the body of a living thing.

   mild trauma; major trauma

   1 more example

   Near-synonyms: insult (contextually synonymous); see also Thesaurus:injury

   Synonyms: insult, injury, wound, scath, scathe, lesion, dere

   1. countablespecificallyuncountableusuallySerious injury, resulting from predation, violence, an accident such as a fall, a vehicle crash, etc.

      We're not talking about paper cuts or sprains here — we're talking about trauma.

      1 more example

      Repeated trauma or shaking to the brain can be even worse, leading to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.

      2020 January 26, Leah Asmelash, “Why traumatic brain injuries can be dangerous”, in CNN

      Synonyms: insult, injury, wound, scath, scathe, lesion, dere

2. countableuncountableAn emotional wound leading to psychological injury.

   What these patients eventually realized was that they all had trauma that had fed into their addictions.

   2 more examples

   Jailing her on Wednesday, magistrate Liz Clyne told Robins: "You have shown little remorse either for the death of the kitten or the trauma to your former friend Sarah Knutton." She was also banned from keeping animals for 10 years.

   2011 December 14, Steven Morris, “Devon woman jailed for 168 days for killing kitten in microwave”, in The Guardian

   And although it doesn’t mean acting like an infant again, it does require recognizing that many of the thoughts and behaviors you’d like to change come from lingering feelings of childhood traumas or your inner child, said Dr. Avigail Lev, a licensed clinical psychologist at the Bay Area CBT Center in San Francisco.

   2025 April 28, Madeline Holcombe, “It might be time to ‘reparent’ yourself. Here’s how to get started”, in CNN

3. countableuncountableAn event that causes great distress.

   The earthquake here 14 years ago was a national trauma that still affects the economy today.