frenzy

[fren-zee] /ˈfrɛn zi/
noun, plural frenzies.
1.
extreme mental agitation; wild excitement or derangement.
2.
a fit or spell of violent mental excitement; a paroxysm characteristic of or resulting from a mania:
He is subject to these frenzies several times a year.
verb (used with object), frenzied, frenzying.
3.
to drive to frenzy; make frantic:
She was frenzied by fear when she smelled the smoke.
Origin
1300-50; Middle English frenesie < Old French < Late Latin phrenēsis < Late Greek, for Greek phrenîtis; see phrenitis
Related forms
frenzily, adverb
Synonyms
2. madness, insanity, lunacy, aberration; rage, fury, raving.
Antonyms
1. calm. 2. sanity.
Examples from the web for frenzy
  • Follow the frenzy of activity as a small army of employees whirls behind the scenes of a major state dinner.
  • Follow along as a small army of employees whirls behind the scenes in a frenzy of activity surrounding a major state dinner.
  • The news set off a frenzy of calls to doctors from people anxious to know if this really was some magic cure.
  • While many older volumes have found homes in special collections, these are in danger of being lost to the digitization frenzy.
  • Still, this sort of thinking will not dampen the frenzy that surrounds the college admissions process.
  • Once you have worked yourself into a caffeine-deprived frenzy, reach out your hand and try and grasp your liquid gold.
  • The media market gets in a frenzy about fixing a problem instead of looking at the longer-term progress of humanity.
  • Poor people participating in the drug frenzy are dropping dead at an early age nowadays.
  • The squid flash aggressively with the frenzy of feeding.
  • Once the realities of this hits the street it should create a feeding frenzy for the nuclear industry.
British Dictionary definitions for frenzy

frenzy

/ˈfrɛnzɪ/
noun (pl) -zies
1.
violent mental derangement
2.
wild excitement or agitation; distraction
3.
a bout of wild or agitated activity: a frenzy of preparations
verb -zies, -zying, -zied
4.
(transitive) to make frantic; drive into a frenzy
Word Origin
C14: from Old French frenesie, from Late Latin phrēnēsis madness, delirium, from Late Greek, ultimately from Greek phrēn mind; compare frenetic
Word Origin and History for frenzy
n.

mid-14c., "delirium, insanity," from Old French frenesie, from Medieval Latin phrenesia, from phrenesis, back-formation from Latin phreneticus "delirious" (see frenetic). Meaning "excited state of mind" is from c.1400.