fever
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
a state of great excitement or nervous energy about something.
a state of intense nervous excitement, agitation, or collective enthusiasm.
Simple“World Cup fever spread through the city as the national team reached the final.”
In context“Election fever gripped the nation, with every news cycle dominated by the latest polling data and candidate debates.”
UsageFrequently used in the pattern '[Topic] fever'.
Synonyms
“They have stomachaches, fever, coughs and runny noses,” Siti Zahra, a mother of two, told Al Jazeera.”
“He was laid out on the sofa, unable to get up with a fever that wouldn’t break and a flu-like illness that refused to let up.”
From Middle English fever, fevere, from Old English fefer, fefor (“fever”) and Old French fievre (“fever”), from Latin febris (“a fever”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- (“to burn”). Replaced native Old English hriþ (“fever”). Compare also Saterland Frisian Fiewer, German Fieber, Danish feber, Swedish feber.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.