febrile
Americanadjective
adjective
Usage
What does febrile mean? Febrile is a more formal way of saying feverish—having a fever. A fever is an abnormally high body temperature, typically as the result of illness. In general, febrile can mean somehow related to or marked by fever. It is commonly used in formal medical contexts, but it can also be used metaphorically to describe situations marked by a state of anxious excitement. Example: Nothing is worse than the febrile sweat that comes with the flu.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of febrile
1645–55; < New Latin, Medieval Latin febrīlis. See fever, -ile
Compare meaning
How does febrile compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
Febrile is an adjective that means "related to fever." It can be used in a medical sense when someone is sick and running a temperature, or in a figurative sense to describe a state of excitement or energy. When febrile is used to describe a fever due to illness, it is often used together with the word seizure. A febrile seizure is a seizure triggered by a fever. In a non-medical sense, the word can describe a state of excitement, as in, "The atmosphere in the city was febrile as the king's coronation date approached." You might think the fe in the word sounds like "fee," but it is actually pronounced "feh," as in February.
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"The current criminal threat environment is febrile and when it comes to federal parliamentarians, the AFP continues to record the growing volume of online abuse, threatening rhetoric and intimidation," she said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 20, 2026
Flea-borne typhus is an acute febrile bacterial infection caused by Rickettsia Typhi bacteria, which is spread by infected fleas often found on pets and wildlife.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
Haunting and powerful, her paintings, particularly those from the past decade, reveal her strong affinity with Egon Schiele, Edvard Munch, Francis Bacon and other artists who rendered the human form with febrile expressivity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
A pumped-up Volkanovski, a former rugby league player, basked in the adoration of the febrile 20,000-person crowd at Qudos Bank Arena in his first world title defence on Australian soil.
From Barron's ● Feb. 1, 2026
The articles suited the tenor of the moment established by Senator Joseph McCarthy’s febrile accusations of Communist influence in every corner of government.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
