fébrile

feverish

adjective feh-BREEL Rare

Origin: Latin febris 'fever'

Also means

agitated

Usage Note

Fébrile describes both a literal low-grade fever (état fébrile) in medical contexts and a figurative state of nervous excitement or anxious activity — the second usage is now more common in literary and journalistic writing. The noun fébrilité ('feverishness, agitation') is frequently heard in political commentary to describe intense pre-election activity.

Examples

"Elle attendait les résultats dans un état fébrile."

Natural Translation

She awaited the results in a feverish state.

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