febrile
adjective
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Not too surprisingly, febrile originated in the field of medicine. We note its first use in the work of the 17th-century medical reformer Noah Biggs. Biggs used it in admonishing physicians to care for their "febrile patients" properly. Both feverish and febrile are from the Latin word for "fever," which is febris. Nowadays, febrile is used in medicine in a variety of ways, including references to such things as "the febrile phase" of an illness. And, like feverish, it also has an extended sense, as in "a febrile emotional state."
Examples of febrile in a Sentence
Solitaire Townsend, Forbes.com, 15 May 2025
A week prior my daughter had been really sick and landed in the emergency room after having a febrile seizure.
—Cullen Daly, Glamour, 10 May 2025
Still, Onana’s less-than-stellar European record with the club did little to settle nerves amid a febrile atmosphere.
—Carl Anka, New York Times, 11 Apr. 2025
In the febrile political atmosphere of Brazil, Wanderley’s public suicide inevitably had partisan implications.
—Jon Lee Anderson, New Yorker, 7 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for febrile
Cite this Entry
“Febrile.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/febrile. Accessed 29 May. 2025.
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