frenzy
Americannoun
-
a state of extreme mental agitation or wild excitement.
There's something big businesses love about working their customers into a frenzy of anticipation.
- Antonyms:
- calm
-
a burst of agitated, energetic action or activity.
Athens in the late 1960s was in the midst of a building frenzy.
-
a fit or spell of mental derangement; a paroxysm characteristic of or resulting from a mania.
He is subject to these frenzies several times a year.
- Antonyms:
- sanity
verb (used with object)
noun
-
violent mental derangement
-
wild excitement or agitation; distraction
-
a bout of wild or agitated activity
a frenzy of preparations
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of frenzy
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English frenesie, from Old French, from Late Latin phrenēsis, from Late Greek, for Greek phrenîtis; see phrenitis
Explanation
In a frenzy, people go into a state of hysteria. Stay away from hungry sharks or kids at a 16th birthday party when the pizza arrives if you don't want to get caught up in a feeding frenzy. Frenzy is derived from the Latin word phreneticus meaning "delirious." If you're in a frenzy, you're certainly delirious. You can be in a frenzy because something made you mad, happy, or even just hungry — whatever makes you so crazy you're not thinking clearly. Frenzy is often used when talking about a group of people (or animals) who get worked up at the same time about the same thing, like sharks near tasty fish or teenagers near pizza.
Vocabulary lists containing frenzy
Walk Two Moons
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Mayhem! Chaos! Pandemonium!
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "F"
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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.
See Examples For:
But "King James" announced on June 30 that he would depart the Lakers as a free agent, sparking a frenzy of speculation as to his next team.
From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026
Three Airbnb hosts reveal their rates during the soccer frenzy and their lessons learned ahead of the LA28 Olympics.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
The housing market has been stuck in what is now a four-year slump after the rise in mortgage rates in 2022 concluded a pandemic-era buying frenzy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
The strike led to significant protests outside the Newark, New Jersey, detention center, and high-profile clashes between protesters and the guards there as well as a frenzy of attention from the national press.
From Salon ● Jul. 17, 2026
The men began to run forward and back in a frenzy.
From "The Fighting Ground" by Avi
The Allbirds pivot is also reminiscent of prior frenzies in cryptocurrencies and in the tech sector.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 15, 2026
The recent rally in silver is notable, with the white metal exhibiting significant volatility as it has attracted a wave of retail investors in a repeat of previous frenzies over the metal.
From Barron's ● Jan. 2, 2026
Tasmanian devils have “noisy, dramatic feeding frenzies filled with growls and screeches” when they gather around a carcass, zoo officials said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2025
Even our recent market volatility — from meme stock frenzies to cryptocurrency bubbles — reflects the same pattern.
From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2025
The proles, normally apathetic about the war, were being lashed into one of their periodical frenzies of patriotism.
From "1984" by George Orwell
Leveraged ETFs and their siblings, inverse funds, are risky, and their frenzied proliferation that kicked into overdrive 2025 may be overshadowing their big jump in closures this year.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026
The most epic call of all time is a blistering, frenzied 68-second diatribe delivered in two different languages that namechecks three British prime ministers, a heavyweight champion, and, oddly, Princess Diana.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
Both companies have seen profits and share prices skyrocket in recent months, as frenzied demand for AI infrastructure squeezes the global supply of memory chips.
From Barron's ● Jun. 29, 2026
Maxine is, after all, also an artist, trying to preserve her relationship with her children while going through a divorce, contemplating just how honest to be as she works through her mind’s frenzied state.
From Salon ● Jun. 29, 2026
The three mounted warriors forced their way past the frenzied mare.
From "The Book of Three" by Lloyd Alexander
Loya: —and then they’re just frenzying around their house.
From Slate ● Aug. 10, 2019
He watched their splashing, their excitement, and their frenzying limbs with the awareness that this tousling around had no higher significance.
From Tokyo to Tijuana: Gabriele Departing America by Sills, Steven (Steven David Justin)
Still we must doubt the competency of the alleged authors of the excitement to perform the bewildering and frenzying acts ascribed to them.
From Witchcraft of New England Explained by Modern Spiritualism by Putnam, Allen
Definitions 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.
