hectic

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“
Consumption, I am aware, is a flattering malady, but certainly Anne's illness has of late assumed a less alarming character than it had in the beginning: the hectic is allayed; the cough gives a more frequent reprieve.

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Definitions (13)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (5)

  1. adjective Characterized by intense activity, confusion, or haste: "There was nothing feverish or hectic about his vigor” (Erik Erikson).
  2. adjective Medicine Of, relating to, or being a fever that fluctuates during the day, as in tuberculosis or septicemia.
  3. adjective Consumptive; feverish.
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Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

feverish ·  stressful ·  purplish ·  unhealthy ·  fevered ·  vivid ·  fitful ·  rosy ·  livid ·  tempestuous ·  sickly ·  frenetic
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English etik, recurring, consumptive, from Old French etique, from Late Latin hecticus, from Greek hektikos, from hexis, habit, from ekhein, to be in a certain condition; see segh- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Formerly hectick, ectick, ettick; from Middle English etik, etyk, from Old French etique, French hectique = Spanish hético = Portuguese hectico = Italian etico (cf. D. G. hektisch = Swedish Danish hektisk), from Middle Latin *hecticus, from Greek ἑκτικός, habitual, hectic, consumptive (Galen), from ἑξις (ἑκτ-), a state or habit of body or of mind, condition, from ἔχειν (future ἐξειν, √ *ἑχ), have, hold, intransitive be in a certain state, = Sanskrit √ sah, prevail, endure.
 

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/ˈhɛktɪk/
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