definitions

hectic

[ hek-tik ]
/ ˈhɛk tɪk /
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR hectic ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

characterized by intense agitation, excitement, confused and rapid movement, etc.: The week before the trip was hectic and exhausting.

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What Does “ZIP Code” Stand For?It’s a hectic time of year for the U.S. Postal Service. Those packages you ordered on Cyber Monday are steadily arriving. You’re probably even receiving a few holiday greetings the old-fashioned way — snail mail. The half million employees who work for the USPS rely heavily on the five- or nine-digit ZIP codes for efficient and reliable mail delivery. So, it makes sense that the …
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RELATED WORDS

desperately, excitedly, madly, wildly, uncontrollably, berserk, crazily, helter-skelter, wild, agitatedly, amok, franticly, hysterically

Nearby words

heckle, heckler, heckuva, hect-, hectare, hectic, hecticly, hecto-, hectocotylus, hectogram, hectograph

Origin of hectic

1350–1400; Middle English < Late Latin hecticus < Greek hektikós habitual, consumptive, adj. corresponding to héxis possession, state, habit, equivalent to *hech-, base of échein to have + -sis -sis; see -tic; replacing Middle English etyk < Middle French
Related forms
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for hectically

  • Eyes that met when commands were given and received were dull from want of sleep or hectically bright as a hypochondriac's.

    The Last Shot|Frederick Palmer

British Dictionary definitions for hectically

hectic

/ (ˈhɛktɪk) /

adjective

characterized by extreme activity or excitement
associated with, peculiar to, or symptomatic of tuberculosis (esp in the phrases hectic fever, hectic flush)

noun

a hectic fever or flush
rare a person who is consumptive or who experiences a hectic fever or flush
Derived Formshectically, adverb

Word Origin for hectic

C14: from Late Latin hecticus, from Greek hektikos habitual, from hexis state, from ekhein to have
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for hectically

hectic

adj.

late 14c., etik (in fever etik), from Old French etique "consumptive," from Late Latin hecticus, from Greek hektikos "continuous, habitual, consumptive" (of a disease, because of the constant fever), from hexis "a habit (of mind or body)," from ekhein "have, hold, continue" (see scheme).

The Latin -h- was restored in English 16c. Sense of "feverishly exciting, full of disorganized activity" first recorded 1904, but hectic also was used in Middle English as a noun meaning "feverish desire, consuming passion" (early 15c.). Hectic fevers are characterized by rapid pulse, among other symptoms. Related: Hecticness.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper