Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Relating to, characterized by, or caused by fever: The word "febrile" describes a state or condition involving an abnormally high body temperature, or something associated with such a state.
   • Showing great nervous excitement, energy, or activity; frenetic: In a figurative or medical context, it can describe a state of intense, restless, or feverish activity or agitation.

Usage Examples

• Adjective (Medical Context):
  • The patient was admitted with a febrile illness. (The patient was admitted with an illness involving fever.)
  • A febrile seizure is a convulsion in a child triggered by a high fever.
• Adjective (Figurative Context):
  • The city had a febrile energy in the days before the festival. (The city had an intensely excited and restless energy.)
  • Her febrile imagination produced countless ideas. (Her intensely active imagination produced many ideas.)

Advanced Usage

• "Febrile response": The body's physiological reaction to infection or inflammation, often involving fever.
  • The vaccine can sometimes induce a mild febrile response.
• "Febrile state": A condition of having a fever.
  • The doctor monitored the child's febrile state closely.

Variants and Related Words

• Febrility (n): The condition of having a fever; feverishness. (Less common)
• Antipyretic (n/adj): A substance (like a drug) that reduces fever; relating to such substances.
  • Paracetamol is a common antipyretic.
• Pyrexia (n): A technical term for fever.
  • The nurse noted pyrexia on the patient's chart.

Synonyms

• Feverish: Having or showing the symptoms of a fever; intensely active or agitated.
• Pyretic: Relating to or producing fever. (Technical)
• Frenzied: Wildly excited or uncontrolled. (For the figurative sense)

Antonyms

• Afebrile: Without fever; having a normal body temperature.
  • The patient was afebrile after 48 hours of treatment.
• Apyretic: Not characterized by fever. (Technical)

Related Phrases and Idioms

• "Febrile convulsion" (Medical Term): A seizure associated with a high fever in young children.
  • Their son had a febrile convulsion when he was two years old.
• "In a febrile atmosphere": In an environment charged with intense, nervous excitement.
  • The negotiations took place in a febrile atmosphere of mutual suspicion.

Adjective

1. of or relating to or characterized by fever
   • a febrile reaction caused by an allergen