frenzy
[fren-zee]
- extreme mental agitation; wild excitement or derangement.
- a fit or spell of violent mental excitement; a paroxysm characteristic of or resulting from a mania: He is subject to these frenzies several times a year.
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- to drive to frenzy; make frantic: She was frenzied by fear when she smelled the smoke.
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Origin of frenzy
1300–50; Middle English frenesie < Old French < Late Latin phrenēsis < Late Greek, for Greek phrenîtis; see phrenitis
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comAntonyms
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
turmoil, fever, madness, burst, fury, rage, excitement, mania, passion, free-for-all, furor, outburst, craze, hysteria, agitation, ruction, seizure, conniption, convulsion, transportExamples from the Web for frenzy
Contemporary Examples
I am scared that, like me, they will arrive and see a frenzy of disorganization, fear and, most frightening, quarantine.
The media goes into a frenzy when egregious examples of bad mothers occur, like Susan Smith or Casey Anthony.
Republicans have been in a frenzy since realizing that the IRS was missing two years of Lerner emails.
Arriving at the Melody Ballroom, the atmosphere was a frenzy of joy, jubilation and holy bedlam.
In a frenzy of activity, he set to work filling the wall of his studio.
Historical Examples
Their walk was a delight to him, their roaring gallop a frenzy of eager sensation.
ThoroughbredsW. A. Fraser
Nor, in the blindness of his frenzy, had he seen when she had gone nor whither she went.
Howard Pyle's Book of PiratesHoward Pyle
Have a care, Jinkins, ere you provoke a desperate man to frenzy!
Life And Adventures Of Martin ChuzzlewitCharles Dickens
Clotilde, in a frenzy of grief, raised her arm, as if to drive her out of the room.
Doctor PascalEmile Zola
They could do neither now, for the fear that possessed them at sight of Israel's frenzy.
The ScapegoatHall Caine
frenzy
- violent mental derangement
- wild excitement or agitation; distraction
- a bout of wild or agitated activitya frenzy of preparations
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- (tr) to make frantic; drive into a frenzy
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Word Origin
C14: from Old French frenesie, from Late Latin phrēnēsis madness, delirium, from Late Greek, ultimately from Greek phrēn mind; compare 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 frenzy
n.
mid-14c., "delirium, insanity," from Old French frenesie, from Medieval Latin phrenesia, from phrenesis, back-formation from Latin phreneticus "delirious" (see frenetic). Meaning "excited state of mind" is from c.1400.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper