frantic
[fran-tik]
- desperate or wild with excitement, passion, fear, pain, etc.; frenzied.
- Archaic. insane; mad.
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Origin of frantic
Synonyms
See more synonyms for frantic on Thesaurus.com1. overwrought, agitated, frenzied, distraught.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for frantically
Contemporary Examples
Staffers were frantically compiling information from eyewitnesses and Japanese sources.
The others disappeared into the school, frantically hustling to try to make deals.
Backward, backward, backward Ghana ran, and frantically…toward its own endangered goal.
He winks, smacks his lips and frantically drains the go-cup.
The Stacks: The Neville Brothers Stake Their Claim as Bards of the BayouJohn Ed Bradley
April 27, 2014
The mother of five frantically jumps from one argument to the next as if playing a high stakes game of Catchphrase.
Historical Examples
Frantically he tugged and tore at the slimy rope, hauling with a will and a prayer.
The Black BagLouis Joseph Vance
Frantically I scrambled in the dark till I located the batteries.
His mother went and caught him frantically in her arms and seated him on her lap.
The DownfallEmile Zola
He opened his mouth to shout a question, but she frantically signaled for silence.
The Woman-HatersJoseph C. Lincoln
"A Mr. Hadley frantically telephoning, sir," he said to Jeter.
Lords of the StratosphereArthur J. Burks
frantic
- distracted with fear, pain, joy, etc
- marked by or showing frenzyfrantic efforts
- archaic insane
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Word Origin
C14: from Old French frenetique, from Latin phrenēticus mad, frenetic
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for frantically
frantic
adj.
mid-14c., "insane," unexplained variant of Middle English frentik (see frenetic). Transferred meaning "affected by wild excitement" is from late 15c. Of the adverbial forms, frantically (1749) is later than franticly (1540s).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper