Meaning

(figurative) Very busy with activity and confusion..

Definitions by Sense

1. (figurative) Very busy with activity and confusion.
2. (obsolete) Denoting a type of fever accompanying consumption and similar wasting diseases, characterised by flushed cheeks and dry skin.
3. (obsolete) Pertaining to or symptomatic of such a fever.
4. A hectic fever.
5. A flush like one produced by such a fever.

Example Sentences

The city center is so hectic at 8 in the morning that I go to work an hour beforehand to avoid the crowds

Phoenix:It must have been too hectic that night to clean up.

hectic fever

Ann had a hectic cough, and many unfavourable prognostics […].

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 […].

[…] Do it England, / For like the Hecticke in my blood he rages, / And thou muſt cure me: […]

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

For still he lay, and on his thin worn cheek / A purple hectic played like dying day / On the snow-tops of distant hills […]

Word Forms

• more hectic
• most hectic
• hectick
• hectical
• hectics

Synonyms for hectic

Related Words

When Should You Use Hectic?

Use hectic when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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