febrile
adjective
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The English language has had the word fever for as long as the language has existed (that is, about a thousand years); the related adjective feverish has been around since the 14th century. But that didn’t stop the 17th-century medical reformer Noah Biggs from admonishing physicians to care for their "febrile patients" properly. Biggs apparently thought his medical writing required a word that clearly nodded to a Latin heritage, and called upon the Latin adjective febrilis, from febris, meaning "fever." It’s a tradition that English has long kept: look to Latin for words that sound technical or elevated. But fever too comes from febris. It first appeared (albeit with a different spelling) in an Old English translation of a book about the medicinal qualities of various plants. By Biggs’s time it had shed all obvious hallmarks of its Latin ancestry. Febrile, meanwhile, continues to be used in medicine in a variety of ways, including in references to such things as "febrile seizures" and "the febrile phase" of an illness. The word has also developed figurative applications matching those of feverish, as in "a febrile atmosphere."
Examples of febrile in a Sentence
James Pearce, New York Times, 3 Nov. 2025
There is a small but increased risk of febrile seizure when the MMRV combination is given as the first dose, so the CDC had already recommended that the varicella vaccine be given separately for children under 4.
—Cnn.com Wire Service, Mercury News, 7 Oct. 2025
This change helps lower the chance of a febrile seizure, which can happen more often with the combo vaccine.
—Sherri Gordon, Parents, 26 Sep. 2025
Kimmel’s temporary removal from his show over remarks made about the man accused of killing Charlie Kirk have opened up a febrile free speech debate across America.
—Max Goldbart, Deadline, 22 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for febrile
Cite this Entry
“Febrile.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/febrile. Accessed 3 Jan. 2026.
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