frenetic

frenetic

English

WOTD – 19 November 2009

Alternative forms

• phrenetic (dated)
• phrenetick (obsolete)
• phrentic, phrentick (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English frenetik (also frentik, frentyk, frantike > modern English frantic), from Old French frenetike, from Latin phreneticus, from Ancient Greek φρενητικός (phrenētikós, “delirious”), from φρενῖτις (phrenîtis, “delirium”), from φρήν (phrḗn, “mind”). Doublet of frantic.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /fɹəˈnɛt.ɪk/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (AU)

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• Rhymes: -ɛtɪk

Adjective

frenetic (comparative more frenetic, superlative most frenetic)

1. Fast, harried; having extreme enthusiasm or energy.

   After a week of working at a frenetic pace, she was ready for Saturday.

2. (obsolete) Mentally deranged, insane.
3. (obsolete, medicine) Characterised by manifestations of delirium or madness.

Synonyms

• frantic, frenzied

Related terms

• frantic
• frenzy
• schizophrenia

Translations

fast, frantic, harried, or frenzied

Bulgarian: буен (bg) (buen), необуздан (bg) (neobuzdan) Catalan: frenètic (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 發狂的／发狂的 (zh) (fākuáng de) Dutch: frenetiek (nl), bezeten (nl) Finnish: kiihkeä (fi), raivokas (fi), kuumeinen (fi) French: frénétique (fr) German: frenetisch (de), phrenetisch (obsolete) Hungarian: frenetikus (hu) Italian: frenetico (it) Norwegian: frenetisk Polish: szalony (pl), szaleńczy (pl) Portuguese: frenético (pt) m Russian: неи́стовый (ru) (neístovyj), безу́мный (ru) (bezúmnyj), бе́шеный (ru) (béšenyj), вне себя́ (ru) (vne sebjá) Spanish: frenético Turkish: hummalı (tr)

Noun

frenetic (plural frenetics)

1. One who is frenetic.

Further reading

• frenetic in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
• frenetic at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• infecter, reinfect

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Romanian

Etymology

From French frénétique.

Adjective

frenetic m or n (feminine singular frenetică, masculine plural frenetici, feminine and neuter plural frenetice)

1. frenetic

Declension

Declension of frenetic

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	frenetic		frenetică	frenetici	frenetice
	definite	freneticul		frenetica	freneticii	freneticele
genitive/ dative	indefinite	frenetic		frenetice	frenetici	frenetice
	definite	freneticului		freneticei	freneticilor	freneticelor