cabin fever

noun

1. a state characterized by anxiety, restlessness, and boredom, arising from a prolonged stay in a remote or confined place.

cabin fever

noun

1. acute depression resulting from being isolated or sharing cramped quarters in the wilderness, esp during the long northern winter

Word History and Origins

Origin of cabin fever¹

An Americanism dating back to 1915–20

Idioms and Phrases

Distress or anxiety caused by prolonged confinement in a small or remote place, as in We've been snowed in for a week and everyone has cabin fever . Originating in the West, this term at first alluded to being penned up in a remote cabin during a long winter but has since been applied more broadly. [Late 1800s]

Example Sentences

Elbow bumps may replace those handshakes for a few years, but cabin fever has me fantasizing about visiting some of my favorite wine regions in person as soon as opportunity allows.

From Washington Post

Office workers logged on from cramped apartments, paying bills but struggling to balance professional duties with childcare needs or to manage loneliness, anxiety, cabin fever.

From Time

Our natural hunger for new horizons is at the root of cabin fever.

From Washington Post

After three seasons of this pandemic during which kids could mostly cure their cabin fever with bike rides and socially distanced outdoor games, we’re staring down the next few months of winter, where one short day pushes into the next short day.

From Washington Post

Those cravings aren’t just cabin fever—the human body hungers for companionship in much the way we hunger for food, according to a new study conducted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

From Fortune

They think me and Rory have gotten cabin fever and been on set too long, just talking in this random language.

From The Daily Beast

Then, Rubin sent it over to his college classmate, Evan Astrowsky, who produced Cabin Fever.

From The Daily Beast

This very black sci-fi comedy is part 2001 satire, part Cabin Fever.

From The Daily Beast

With all the activity seething around us, and with only Stein and myself to keep each other company, we were getting cabin fever.

From Project Gutenberg

Cabin fever no longer tormented them with its magnifying of little things.

From Project Gutenberg