hectic

English

Alternative forms

• hectick (obsolete)

Etymology

From Old French etique, from Medieval Latin *hecticus, from Ancient Greek έκτικός (ektikos, “habitual, hectic, consumptive”), from έξις (exis, “a state or habit of body or of mind, condition”), from έξειν (exein, “to have, hold, intransitive be in a certain state”).

Adjective

hectic (comparative more hectic, superlative most hectic)

1. Of a fever, pertaining to bodily reactions characterised by flushed or dry skin.
2. Very busy with activity and confusion; feverish.

   The city center is so hectic at 8 in the morning that I go to work an hour beforehand to avoid the crowds

Synonyms

• feverish

Derived terms

• hectically

Translations

very busy with activity and confusion

Czech: hektický (cs) m. Dutch: hectisch Finnish: kuumeinen (fi), kiihkeä (fi), hektinen (fi)

German: hektisch (de) Russian: лихорадочный (ru) (lixorádočnyj) Spanish: ajetreado (es), febril (es)

of a fever whose intensity fluctuates

Russian: лихорадочный (ru) (lixorádočnyj)

Noun

hectic (plural hectics)

1. (obsolete) A hectic fever.
2. (obsolete) A flush like one produced by such a fever.
   • 1819, Lord Byron, Don Juan, II.147:

     For still he lay, and on his thin worn cheek / A purple hectic played like dying day / On the snow-tops of distant hills [...].

External links

• hectic in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• hectic in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911