OK, I've determined that "electrocute" can only be used?

Question

when a person dies from their contact with electricity (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=electrocute and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrocute), so what is it called when someone receives a nasty shock but doesn't die?

Answer 1

When I worked in journalism, the phrase we used was "suffered extreme electric shock."

Answer 2

While the dictionary gives a prescriptive answer, electrocute is commonly used in American English to mean getting shocked without resulting in death.

A similar case is "hopefully". A discussion of its usage can be found here: http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/hopefully
A purist and stickler might insist on definition 1, but everyone else in America uses it in sense 2, and laughs at the one with their (properly "his", yet another usage Holy War) knickers in a twist.

Alternative words could be "shocked", "zapped", or "fried". Electrical engineers like to joke that you "let the smoke out" (see
http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/M/magic-smoke.html for more)

Answer 3

I have heard the phrase "near electrocution" on TV news. Now this does NOT make the phrase correct by any means; it just means it is "out there" floating around in the ether like the phrase "looking to." That never meant anything either until the media started spreading it around and now it is Everywhere. The power of the media ...sucks!

Answer 4

electrocuted

my mother in law was elecrtocuted this yr,, 7200 volts of electricity passed thru her body,,giving the exit wounds 5th and 6th degree burns,,,ie charcoal,,she lived but lost both her legs at the knee this woman just turned 64

lifes a real b i t c h sometimes

Answer 5

samething really it is just the amount used that is the determining factor.

Answer 6

shocked

Answer 7

elctro static reconversion

Answer 8

shocked or zapped