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Febrile

Disease
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Affected by fever or resembling the agitation of fever. It suggests heat, restlessness, and delirious intensity.

Detailed Definition
Febrile describes the bodily heat and mental disturbance associated with fever, but poets often extend it to crowds, weather, desire, or political unrest. A febrile night may shimmer with sweat, hallucination, and racing thought; a febrile city may seem overheated by panic or ambition. The term gives emotional experience a physiological pressure, implying that intensity has become so great that it resembles illness.
Example
Example in poetry:
“Febrile stars shook above the hospital roof” uses feverish imagery to animate the sky; A speaker can write, “In febrile sleep, I mistook the clock for thunder,” to convey delirium; “The febrile city paced beneath its sirens” makes a whole city seem anxious and overheated; “His febrile hands turned the letter into ash” links bodily fever with emotional intensity
Additional Notes
Febrile can modify thought, weather, or language as well as a body. It suggests overheated, restless intensity rather than simply illness.
Also Known As
Feverish Pyretic Fevered
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