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fevered

If you're fevered, you're agitated or overly excited about something. A group of middle school kids might have a fevered reaction to the news that their favorite band is in town.

While you can also use fevered to mean "hot" or "running a fever," it more commonly means "revved up" or "frenzied." A fevered imagination might turn spooky nighttime noises into a monster, and the arrival of a clown at a birthday party might cause both fevered excitement and terror from the guests. Fevered comes from fever, "high temperature," which has also meant "intense excitement" since the 16th century.

Definitions of fevered
  1. adjective
    highly excited
    “a fevered imagination”
    synonyms:
    excited
    in an aroused state
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DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘fevered'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors. Send us feedback
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