phrenitis

American  

[fri-nahy-tis] / frɪˈnaɪ tɪs /

noun

Pathology.

1. inflammation of the brain; encephalitis.

2. delirium; frenzy.

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phrenitis British  

/ frɪˈnɪtɪk, frɪˈnaɪtɪs /

noun

1. another name for encephalitis

2. a state of frenzy; delirium

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Other Word Forms

• phrenitic
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of phrenitis

1615–25; < Late Latin phrenītis delirium, frenzy < Greek phrenîtis. See phren-, -itis

Example Sentences

Alexander has much to say with regard to phrenitis, a febrile condition complicated by delirium, which, following Galen, he considers an affection of the brain.

From Old-Time Makers of Medicine The Story of The Students And Teachers of the Sciences Related to Medicine During the Middle Ages by Walsh, James Joseph

The doctor who had been called in from outside named the disease phrenitis.

From The King's Achievement by Benson, Robert Hugh

Cum furor haud dubius, cum sit manifesta phrenitis, Ut locuples moriaris, egenti vivere fato.

From The Temple of Nature; or, the Origin of Society A Poem, with Philosophical Notes by Darwin, Erasmus

The pulpit of the Parish Church will stand for ever before he upsets it, and he will never approach that altitude of polemical phrenitis which will induce him to smash any part of it.

From Our Churches and Chapels Their Parsons, Priests, & Congregations Being a Critical and Historical Account of Every Place of Worship in Preston by Atticus

He found in his autopsy observations confirmation of this view and concludes that "madness is to phrenitis what pulmonary consumption is to pneumony, that is, a chronic state of an acute disease."

From A Psychiatric Milestone Bloomingdale Hospital Centenary, 1821-1921 by New York Hospital. Society