hectic

English[edit]

From Middle English etik, ethik, from Old French etique, from Medieval Latin *hecticus, from Ancient Greek ἑκτικός (hektikós, “habitual, hectic, consumptive”), from ἕξις (héxis, “a state or habit of body or of mind, condition”), from ἔχειν (ékhein, “to have, hold, intransitive be in a certain state”).

hectic (comparative more hectic, superlative most hectic)

(figurative) Very busy with activity and confusion.
Synonym: feverish

The city center is so hectic at 8 in the morning that I go to work an hour beforehand to avoid the crowds
(obsolete) Denoting a type of fever accompanying consumption and similar wasting diseases, characterised by flushed cheeks and dry skin.
hectic fever
(obsolete) Pertaining to or symptomatic of such a fever.
- 1788, Mary Wollstonecraft, chapter VI, in Mary: A Fiction‎^[1]:
  Ann had a hectic cough, and many unfavourable prognostics […] .
- 1826, [Mary Shelley], chapter 1, in The Last Man. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC:
  She never complained, but sleep and appetite fled from her, a slow fever preyed on her veins, her colour was hectic, and she often wept in secret […] .

very busy with activity and confusion

denoting a type of fever accompanying consumption

hectic (plural hectics)

(obsolete) A hectic fever.
- c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii], page 273:
  […] Do it England, / For like the Hecticke in my blood he rages, / And thou muſt cure me: […]
(obsolete) A flush like one produced by such a fever.
- 1768, Mr. Yorick [pseudonym; Laurence Sterne], A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, volume I, London: […] T. Becket and P. A. De Hondt, […], →OCLC, page 17:
  The poor Franciscan made no reply: a hectic of a moment pass’d across his cheek, but could not tarry […]
- 1819 July 15, [Lord Byron], Don Juan, London: […] Thomas Davison, […], →OCLC, canto II, stanza 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 […]
- 1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:
  an angry hectic in each cheek, a fierce flirt of her fan, and two or three short sniffs that betokened mischief

hectic m or n (feminine singular hectică, masculine plural hectici, feminine and neuter plural hectice)

Declension of hectic