tono-, -tonia, -tone, -tony, -tonic, -tonical (tension) +

Generalized absence of muscle tone; a floppiness of the muscles: Amyotonias are usually associated with flabby muscles and an increased range of passive movements at the joints.

A reference to a lack of muscle tension: Amyotonic muscles may result from any of several rare congenital diseases characterized by general hypotonia of the skeletal muscles."

Also known as "vasospasm", the sudden decrease in the internal diameter of a blood vessel that results from contraction of smooth muscles within the wall of the vessel. An angiohypertonia causes a decrease in blood flow, but an increase in systemic vascular resistance or "vasoconstriction".

Known as "vasodilatation", it is a dilatation of the blood vessels: especially, the functional increase of the arteriolar lumen.

A lack of physiological firmness of tissues and normal functions of bodily organs: The atonia of Olivia's body was a result of a poor diet and a lack of exercise that caused various muscular disorders; such as, spasms and temporary rigidity of her muscles.

1. Relating to, caused by, characterized by, or exhibiting lack of muscle tone: Someone who has an atonic body, or a part of the body, has a weakness or reduction in the normal strength or firmness of a tissue or some other part of the body.
2. A description of a syllable or a sound that is not accented or stressed: The syllables of the words Jim was saying did not include any atonic vowels.

Something that is caused by, or exhibits a lack of normal muscle tone or strength: Wilber's atonicity can result in a loss of tension or strength in a muscle, so that it is completely flaccid or floppy.

Some atonicities take place because of a nervous system disorder or after an injury to the nerves: The arm muscles may have atonicity resulting from damage to the "brachial plexus" or nerve roots in the neck that go into the arms.

1. A lack of energy or muscular weakness; especially, in a contractile organ.
2. Inadequate tension in a muscle; flaccidity.

1. A form of insanity, characterized by epilepsy and catalepsy.
2. An abnormal condition often associated with schizophrenia and variously characterized by stupor, stereotypy, mania, and either rigidity or extreme flexibility of the limbs.
3. A sever psychiatric condition, a syndrome, especially of schizophrenia, marked by stupor (depression), or catalepsy (a trancelike state with loss of voluntary motion and failure to react to stimuli); often alternating with phases of excitement (short periods of extreme agitation or movements).
4. A neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by one or more of the following essential features: immobility, mutism, negativism (active or passive refusal to follow commands), mannerisms, stereotypies, posturing, grimacing, excitement, echolalia, echopraxia, muscular rigidity, and stupor; sometimes punctuated by sudden violent outbursts, panic, or hallucinations.

Associated with psychotic conditions in which all muscles exhibit "flexibilitas cerea" or "cerea flexibilitas", a rigidity of the body in which the patient maintains whatever position he or she is placed in, the limbs having a heavy waxy malleability, which is the rigidity of catalepsy that may be overcome by slight external force, but which returns at once, holding the limb firmly in the new position: Catatonic rigidity is a condition of diminished responsiveness usually characterized by a trancelike state with constantly maintained immobility, often with flexibilitas cerea or a waxy rigidity of muscles.

A patient with catatonic rigidity may remain in one position for minutes, days, or even longer.

Designating or characteristic of a type of personality which is introverted, intellectual, or emotionally restrained.

Prolonged muscle contractions that may cause twisting and repetitive movements or an abnormal posture: A dystonia may be in the form of rhythmic jerks and they may progress in childhood, but they are rare in adults.

In children, dystonias in the legs are usually the first to be affected.

1. In ecology, a transition zone between two distinct habitats that contains species from each area, as well as organisms unique to it.
2. In anthropology, such an area of transition in which certain game or vegetation overlap; a region of primary importance for human subsistence: An ecotone is a transition area between two adjacent ecological communities or ecosystems and it might appear on the ground as a gradual blending of the two communities across a broad area, or it may manifest itself as a sharp boundary line.

Ecotones are particularly significant for mobile animals, as they can exploit more than one set of habitats within a short distance and this can produce an edge effect along the boundary line, with the area displaying a greater than usual diversity of species.

3. Etymology: from Greek, the word was coined from a combination of eco(logy) + -tone, from Greek tonos or "tension"; in other words, a place where "ecologies are in tension".