Nearby Words

frantic

[fran-tik] Origin

fran·tic

[fran-tik]
adjective
1.
desperate or wild with excitement, passion, fear, pain, etc.; frenzied.
2.
Archaic. insane; mad.

Origin:
1325–75; Middle English frantik, frenetik < Old French frenetique < Latin phrenēticus delirious < Greek phrenētikós. See frenzy, -tic

fran·ti·cal·ly, fran·tic·ly, adverb
fran·tic·ness, noun

fanatic, frantic, frenetic (see synonym note at fanatic).


1. overwrought, agitated, frenzied, distraught.

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Frantic is always a great word to know.
So is quincunx. Does it mean:
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
Collins
World English Dictionary
frantic (ˈfræntɪk)
 
adj
1.  distracted with fear, pain, joy, etc
2.  marked by or showing frenzy: frantic efforts
3.  archaic insane
 
[C14: from Old French frenetique, from Latin phrenēticus mad, frenetic]
 
'frantically
 
adv
 
'franticly
 
adv
 
'franticness
 
n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

frantic
mid-14c., "insane," unexplained variant of M.E. frentik (see frenetic). Transferred meaning "affected by wild excitement" is from late 15c. Of the adv. forms, frantically (1749) is later than franticly (1540s).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang Dictionary

frantic definition


  1. mod.
    great; wild. : We had a frantic time at Chez Freddy.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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