- a tactile hallucination involving the belief that something is crawling on the body or under the skin.
Origin of formication
1700–10; < Latin (Pliny) formīcātiōn-, stem of formīcātiō a sensation that ants are crawling on one's skin, equivalent to formicā(re) to have such a sensation (verbal derivative of formīca ant) + -tiōn- -tion
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for formication
Formication and dilatation of the pupils are frequent symptoms.
The thighs begin to struggle, as if formication was going on in the muscles.The Delight Makers
Both diarrhœa and formication were also absent in a third case reported by Dr. Busscher in the same paper.Poisons: Their Effects and Detection
Alexander Wynter Blyth
Formication, radiating pains, and neuralgia are present in the area of distribution of the nerves implicated.
- a sensation of insects crawling on the skin; symptom of a nerve disorder
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for formication
crawling sensation as of ants on the skin, 1707, from Latin formicationem, noun of action from formicare "to crawl like ants," from formica "ant" (see Formica (n.2)).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
- An abnormal sensation as of insects running over or into the skin, associated with cocaine intoxication or disease of the spinal cord and peripheral nerves.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.