different between hectic vs frenzied

English

Alternative forms

• hectick (obsolete)
• hectical (archaic)

Etymology

From Old French etique, from Medieval Latin *hecticus, from Ancient Greek ??????? (hektikós, “habitual, hectic, consumptive”), from ???? (héxis, “a state or habit of body or of mind, condition”), from ????? (ékhein, “to have, hold, intransitive be in a certain state”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?h?kt?k/
• Rhymes: -?kt?k
• Hyphenation: hec?tic

Adjective

hectic (comparative more hectic, superlative most hectic)

1. (obsolete) Denoting a type of fever accompanying consumption and similar wasting diseases, characterised by flushed cheeks and dry skin.

   hectic fever

2. (obsolete) Pertaining to or symptomatic of such a fever.
   • 1788, Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary, Oxford 2009, p. 18:

     Ann had a hectic cough, and many unfavourable prognostics […] .

   • 1826, Mary Shelley, The Last Man, volume 3, chapter 1:

     She never complained, but sleep and appetite fled from her, a slow fever preyed on her veins, her colour was hectic, and she often wept in secret […] .

3. Very busy with activity and confusion; feverish.

   The city center is so hectic at 8 in the morning that I go to work an hour beforehand to avoid the crowds

Synonyms

• feverish

Derived terms

• hectically
• hecticity
• hectivity

Translations

Noun

hectic (plural hectics)

1. (obsolete) A hectic fever.
   • c. 1600,, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act IV, Scene 3,^[1]

     […] Do it, England;

     For like the hectic in my blood he rages,

     And thou must cure me.

2. (obsolete) A flush like one produced by such a fever.
   • 1768, Laurence Sterne, A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy, London: T. Becket & P.A. De Hondt, Volume 1, p. 17,^[2]

     The poor Franciscan made no reply: a hectic of a moment pass’d across his cheek, but could not tarry […]

   • 1819, Lord Byron, Don Juan, II.147:

     For still he lay, and on his thin worn cheek / A purple hectic played like dying day / On the snow-tops of distant hills […]

Further reading

• hectic in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• hectic in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Romanian

Etymology

From French hectique.

Adjective

hectic m or n (feminine singular hectic?, masculine plural hectici, feminine and neuter plural hectice)

1. hectic

Declension

English

Alternative forms

• phrenzied (chiefly archaic)

Pronunciation

Adjective

frenzied (comparative more frenzied, superlative most frenzied)

1. In a state of hurry, panic or wild activity.

Translations

See also

• frenzy