Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A temporary state of mental confusion and fluctuating consciousness resulting from high fever, intoxication, shock, or other causes. It is characterized by anxiety, disorientation, hallucinations, delusions, and incoherent speech.
- n. A state of uncontrolled excitement or emotion: sports fans in delirium after their team's victory.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A disordered state, more or less temporary, of the mental faculties, occurring during illness, especially in febrile conditions. It may be the effect of inflammatory action affecting the brain, or it may be sympathetic with disease in other parts of the body, as the heart; it may be caused by long-continued and exhausting pain, or by inanition of the nervous system.
- n. Violent excitement; exaggerated enthusiasm; mad rapture.
- n. A hallucination or delusion; a creation of the imagination.
Wiktionary
- n. A temporary mental state with a sudden onset, usually reversible, including symptoms of confusion, inability to concentrate, disorientation, anxiety, and sometimes hallucinations. Causes can include dehydration, drug intoxication, and severe infection.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Med.) A state in which the thoughts, expressions, and actions are wild, irregular, and incoherent; mental aberration; a roving or wandering of the mind, -- usually dependent on a fever or some other disease, and so distinguished from
mania , or madness. - n. Strong excitement; wild enthusiasm; madness.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a usually brief state of excitement and mental confusion often accompanied by hallucinations
- n. state of violent mental agitation
Etymologies
- From the Latin dēlīrium ("derangement”, “madness"), from dēlīrō ("I am deranged"). (Wiktionary)
- Latin dēlīrium, from dēlīrāre, to be deranged : dē-, de- + līra, furrow; see leis-1 in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“This is what they call delirium, I guess," he muttered.”
“This is what they call delirium, I guess" he muttered.”
“It was just as real to me as is the snake beheld by a man in delirium tremens.”
“Half in delirium, he began muttering aloud the lines of an anonymous poem Brissenden had been fond of quoting to him.”
“He has spent an uncounted time in delirium since he was landed on the beach at Ringmanu from the Nari, commanded by one Captain Bateman.”
“But Joe, "soothed and content under the anodyne of delirium," is dragged roughly downtrail by Kah-Chucte and Gowhee.”
“There be things greater than our wisdom, beyond our justice.”
“I just don't happen to think that legalising another harmful activity helps and at least alcohol consumption & delirium is not necessarily axiomatic.”
“With the crowd of 42,967 at Comerica Park in delirium, joined by fans watching from distant downtown buildings and all over Michigan, the Tigers rejoiced after their seventh straight postseason win.”
“That macaron looks WAY better than any I've had the pleasure of eating (or, ahem, making), and the description of that sandwich had me practically in delirium tremens.”
“After Nicholas 'shot, several Maryland players raced off the court in delirium, while the Seahawks stood around in a daze.”
USATODAY.com - Nicholas twists Maryland past UNC-Wilmington at buzzer
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘delirium’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Not in the Periodic Table
Words that sound like they might be the names of elements of the periodic table, but that aren't. Many of the words listed here were actually proposed as names for substances their creators thought...
tentorium, columbarium, nasturtium, deuterium, caladium, valerian, concordium, synangium, chorium, geranium, hymenium, pyrenium and 310 more...
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Band or Brand?
Band names that are also common words or phrases.
genesis, who, beatles, journey, germs, sublime, doors, cars, nirvana, bangles, tool, pixies and 192 more...
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Possible side effects may include...
night terrors, anxiety, suicidality, delirium, vapors, insanity, paranoia, paralysis, insomnia, choler, melancholy, outbursts and 33 more...
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dream words
( randomness, dreams, creativity )
words or phrases related to all things dreamyphantasmagoria, illusion, imagination, slumber, sky, moon, cloud nine, lucid, fantasy, creativity, somnambulism, dreamer and 39 more...
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From The Brothers Karamozov
I either liked the word usage or I didn't know the word.
supercilious, Anathema, Casuist, Incorrigible, decrepit, fanfaronade, axiom, muddleheaded, anthropophagie, callow, swaggar, opined and 8 more...
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the first list
an immense, grandiloquent list that loads like a thousand years sentence in stone. new words are in the other lists.
ridiculous, brummagem, predicament, sanctimonious, vapid, eschew, admonish, auspicious, capitulation, enumerate, lachrymose, tenet and 1648 more...
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dharma66's list
words that pique my interest either by meaning, pronunciation, or spelling, and words that otherwise tickle my fancy!!
pique, elusive, serendipity, nefarious, redundant, pseudoscientific, obsequious, flack, quandary, impervious, perchance, translucent and 168 more...
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Chennessy's Words
philistine, messianic, dyad, cult, bourgeois, blot, ploy, polyglot, lingua franca, cumbersome, lumber, petit-bourgeois and 446 more...
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Angels and Demons Word list
behemoth, disquietude, exalted, heretical, schlock, delirium, precipice, infallible, fathom, fervent, cavern, ardent and 35 more...
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Flutter
tuberose, golden apple, apple cider, unicorn, extraordinary, Pleiades, Merope, speckle, glitter, rose, pitter-pat, whale and 314 more...
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The New Yorker
prejudice, ignominious, quintessence, disparity, vanguard, repudiated, eclectic, dredge, taxonomy, pugnacious, surreptitiously, pudgy and 113 more...
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List 1
erudite, iniquitous, acrimonious, implacable, fractious, irascible, debonair, churlish, brusque, sycophantic, phlegmatic, indomitable and 108 more...
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NTB
chaos, Sagittarius, aether, magic, jester, fool, random, delirium, fire, life, cosmic, riddle and 120 more...
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Misc. Words.
Words I like to use, words I like but may forget.
corrosion, astonish, solace, ferment, continuum, kinesthetic, permeate, repose, caprice, cardinal, discourse, surrender and 610 more...
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My Words
Words that I use regularly and consider mine.
zen, poser, savvy, angst, flustered, bitter, whatsoever, farfetched, indeed, scenario, inevitable, salvage and 134 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for delirium.

utarcher I have had a curious packet confided to me, containing an immense amount of mauscript, in an inconceivably small space; tales, dramas, poems, romances, written principally by Charlotte, in a hand which is almost impossible to decipher without the aid of a magnifying glass. ... When she gives way to her powers of creation, her fancy and her language alike run riot, sometimes to the very borders of apparent delirium. Jul 9, 2010
anydelirium 'You add the most delightful sense of the macabre to any delirium.' -Captain Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End
*wink* Feb 20, 2008