frantically

adverb

fran·​ti·​cal·​ly ˈfran-ti-k(ə-)lē 

: in a frantic manner : in a nervously hurried, desperate, or panic-stricken way

[Carlton] Fisk stood several feet down the line, frantically urging the ball fair with his hands. It hit the yellow foul pole above the wall, a home run.

—Ron Fimrite

Wine companies, fearing that younger drinkers are slipping out of their grasp, have been frantically trying to create products that will be viewed as edgy, hip and fun.

—Mitch Frank

During the new moon, a hatch of baby sea turtles erupts from the sand, struggling frantically to get to the ocean.

—Bernice Notenboom

Synonyms

• amok
• amuck
• berserk
• berserkly
• frenetically
• frenziedly
• harum-scarum
• hectically
• helter-skelter
• madly
• pell-mell
• wild
• wildly

Examples of frantically in a Sentence

the veterinarian ran frantically from room to room looking for the escaped hamster

Recent Examples on the Web

Large drips of white and blue paint obscure the chattering teeth frantically farmed in red in the lower canvas, hinting at water and perhaps someone being silenced. —Natasha Gural, Forbes.com, 10 June 2025

This time the third period was marked by frantically tenacious defense and by the quiet excellence Cats fans have come to expect of Sergei Bobrvosky. —Greg Cote, Miami Herald, 7 June 2025

Hotel security guard Eddy Garcia testified Tuesday that Combs frantically worked to make sure the CCTV video never saw the light of day, paying $100,000 to obtain what Combs thought was the only copy of the recording. —Aaron Katersky, ABC News, 3 June 2025

With eye-catching imagery, the singer stands on fire, becomes an experiment, and runs away frantically before the clip ends with Pierre pointing a gun in her direction. —Demicia Inman, VIBE.com, 3 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1739, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for frantically

• romantically
• semantically