delirium

de·lir·i·um

noun \di-ˈlir-ē-əm\

Definition of DELIRIUM

1

: an acute mental disturbance characterized by confused thinking and disrupted attention usually accompanied by disordered speech and hallucinations

2

: frenzied excitement <he would stride about his room in a delirium of joy — Thomas Wolfe>

Examples of DELIRIUM

1. In her delirium, nothing she said made any sense.
2. <shoppers running around in a delirium the day before Christmas>

Origin of DELIRIUM

Latin, from delirare to be crazy, literally, to leave the furrow (in plowing), from de- + lira furrow — more at learn

First Known Use: circa 1563

Related to DELIRIUM

Synonyms: agitation, deliriousness, frenzy, distraction, fever, feverishness, flap, furor, furore, fury, hysteria, rage, rampage, uproar

Related Words: chaos, confusion, disorder, havoc, pandemonium, turmoil; bedlam, bother, brouhaha, bustle, clamor, clatter, commotion, disturbance, fuss, hoo-ha (also hoo-hah), hubbub, hullabaloo, hurly-burly, ruckus, ruction, rumpus, shindy, squall, stew, stir, storm, to-do, tempest, tumult

Near Antonyms: calm, calmness, peace, peacefulness, placidity, quiet, quietude, repose, restfulness, sereneness, serenity, still, stillness, tranquillity (or tranquility), tranquilness

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Other Psychology Terms

fetish, hypochondria, intelligence, mania, narcissism, neurosis, pathological, psychosis, schadenfreude, subliminal

Rhymes with DELIRIUM

bacterium, collyrium, criterium, imperium, psalterium