hectic

English

Alternative forms

• hectick (obsolete)
• hectical (archaic)

Etymology

(deprecated template usage) 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”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɛktɪk/
• Rhymes: -ɛktɪk
• Hyphenation: hec‧tic

Adjective

hectic (comparative more hectic, superlative most hectic)

1. (obsolete) Pertaining to bodily reactions characterised by flushed or dry skin.

   hectic fever; a hectic patient

   • 1826, Mary Shelley, The Last Man, volume 3, chapter 1

     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 [...]

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
• hecticity
• hectivity

Translations

of a fever whose intensity fluctuates

• Bulgarian: трескав (bg) (treskav)
• Catalan: febril
• Finnish: hektinen (fi)
• French: hectique (fr) m or f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: febril (pt) m or f, frenético (pt) m
• Romanian: hectic
• Russian: лихора́дочный (ru) (lixorádočnyj)

very busy with activity and confusion

• Bulgarian: възбуден (bg) (vǎzbuden), неспокоен (bg) (nespokoen)
• Catalan: frenètic
• Czech: hektický (cs) m
• Dutch: hectisch (nl)
• Finnish: kuumeinen (fi), kiihkeä (fi), hektinen (fi)
• French: agité (fr)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: hektisch (de)
• Italian: febbrile (it), frenetico (it) m
• Portuguese: febril (pt) m or f, frenético (pt) m
• Romanian: agitat (ro), febril (ro)
• Russian: лихора́дочный (ru) (lixorádočnyj), суетливый (ru) (sujetlivyj)
• Spanish: ajetreado (es), febril (es), agobiante (es), frenético

Noun

hectic (plural hectics)

1. (obsolete) A hectic fever.
   • c. 1600, William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act IV, Scene 3,^[1]

     […] Do it, England;

     For like the hectic in my blood he rages,

     And thou must cure me.

2. (obsolete) A flush like one produced by such a fever.
   • 1768, Laurence Sterne, A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy, London: T. Becket & P.A. De Hondt, Volume 1, p. 17,^[2]

     The poor Franciscan made no reply: a hectic of a moment pass’d across his cheek, but could not tarry […]

   • 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 […]

   • 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

Further reading

• “hectic”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “hectic”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.