frantic
delirious
frenetic
frenzied
furious
hectic
All of these words have extended, metaphorical uses. Fragment maydesignate any part incomplete in itself, existing, considered, perceived, or treated apart from a larger, inclusive context. Fragments may be all that remain of the work of an ancient poet. On the other hand, a fragment of a novel may be a piece of writing going up to the point where the writer broke off, leaving the conceptual whole uncompleted. Fragment may also refer, to an isolated bit or part of anything abstract or immaterial. [Even the greatest scholar knows only a fragment of all there is to know; He overheard fragments of their conversation.] In a broad sense, remnant may mean a remaining trace or vestige of anything: remnants of early Indian settlements; a penniless aristocrat jealously guarding the remnants of past glory. It may also refer to a small remaining number of people: the last tattered remnants of the defeated regiment. Scrap and shred may apply to any particle, or to the smallest amount: our last shred of hope; not a shred of evidence or scrap of proof. See discard, part.
Antonyms: totality , whole .
These words refer to extreme states of confused and disordered action. Frantic is the most general in that it does not of itself suggest the reason for the extreme state: frantic with fear; a frantic dash for the departing train. The word does suggest desperation and ineffective haste; it also may stress action taken under extreme pressure: the frantic pace of the big cities. Hectic is specific in exclusively stressing this last sense of frantic. The note of desperation is not necessarily present, however, and the word may simply refer hyperbolically to a rush of events: those hectic days after the first discovery of gold; the hectic traffic during rush hours. Frenetic also relates to this sense of frantic, it may suggest, however, suspense and excitement rather than the desperation of frantic or the busy swiftness of hectic: the frenetic last minutes of the tied basketball game; the frenetic race against the printer’s deadline.
Both hectic and frenetic have roots or older uses that refer to a feverish physical illness. Only delirious, however, would now be pertinent in this context, since it can literally suggest the confused mental state resulting from a fever. In other uses, it escapes the specific situation of physical illness, referring instead to wild excitement; but it still hyperbolically suggests a confused, helpless, or disordered mental state: the grandstand crowd that was flushed with victory and delirious with joy; the delirious new dances that emphasize self-isolation and dehumanizing incoherence. Frantic, used in a favorable sense, compares with delirious here. As a term of approbation, it may stress a wild aliveness or a joyfully giddy whirl: a frantic party; The music was frantic.
Frenzied intensifies the note of desperation in frantic', it suggests a person completely out of control, one who is goaded or driven by external or internal pressures to act in a completely disorganized way: the charging bull, frenzied by frequent woundings; the rioters shouting frenzied accusations. Furious, by contrast, suggests a fierceness of behavior stemming mainly from anger. The word is not nearly so intense, however, as these other words. A person might be furious, but not give the slightest sign of his emotional state; or he might give vent to his furious anger, but still remain in control of himself: his cold but furious summation to the jury. The word may also merely suggest haste, like frantic or hectic: fast and furious', the furious rapids above the waterfall. See ANGER, FRENZY, PSYCHOTIC.
Antonyms: imperturbable, slow, tranquil, unhurried .
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These words refer to extreme states of mental agitation, craving, disorder, or abnormality. Frenzy is the most general of these in stressing extreme agitation of any sort for whatever reason: in a frenzy to meet his deadline. Usually, the word suggests an actual acting out of the mental state in rapid but possibly disordered movements: the frenzy with which they struggled to put out the fire raging through the building. Also, the word suggests a given spurt or seizure of emotion that goads one into action, rather than a steady or constant state: the frenzy of activity during harvest time. When the word refers to emotional imbalance rather than hyperbolically indicating frantic effort, the emotions suggested include hate, anger, terror, or other negative responses to externals: driven by a cold frenzy to kill his opponent. Mania in one of its particulars contrasts strongly with this suggestion of negative response in frenzy, since it can refer to an extreme liking or craving for something: a mania for collecting rare books. Furthermore, a mania may be present over a long period of time without necessarily being acted out: never having indulged his secret mania for camping outdoors. In a psychiatric context, the word is used more strictly to refer to a mental disorder in which one is pervaded with a sense of well-being but acts in excessive and deranged ways: the mania that alternates with melancholy in the typical manic-depressive.
Where frenzy may suggest angry outbursts and mania a continual craving, hysteria suggests emotional seizures of grief or fear as expressed by uncontrolled sobbing: the hysteria of many aboard the sinking ship. Uncontrolled laughter is also a possible result of hysteria, although such laughter would hardly stem from even an illusory happiness. Psychiatrically, the word refers to an abnormal condition that results from nervous malfunction or sexual repression and that is characterized by violent emotional paroxysms and disturbances in the sensory and motor functions: the crippled woman whose classic case of hysteria set Freud to devising his psychoanalytic theories.
Delirium indicates a deranged state that may be the by-product of fever, epilepsy, or alcoholism, or the primary effect of narcotic or psychedelic drugs. The word may suggest agitation like frenzy, but it does not necessarily suggest any physical activity whatsoever; it does indicate a rambling or hallucinating mind: a delirium in which he thought he had stepped out of his body and looked back on it. More loosely, the word can refer to any feverish state or nightmare-ridden sleep: a delirium of troubled dreams from which he awoke in a cold sweat. Hyperbolically, delirium is sometimes used to indicate uncontrollable excitement, wild emotion, or frenzied rapture: a delirium of joy. See delusion, frantic,
PSYCHOTIC, UPSET.
These words all refer to a close or informal relationship with another person, distinguished on one hand from formal business relationships and on the other from closer love or family relationships. Friend in Shakespearean England meant one’s mistress. Now, of course, it has lost this sexual meaning completely and means simply a person one is fond of and chooses to associate with. A business associate, one’s spouse, or a member of one’s family all may or may not be one’s friend, while a friend, conversely, may or may not be a person one would wish to work with or live with. An acquaintance is a person one has met and sees occasionally with cordiality but without intimacy: acquaintances who were destined never to become friends. Companion is ambiguous. It may suggest the closeness of friend : my constant companion. Or it may
frenzy
delirium
hysteria
mania
friend
acquaintance
buddy
companion
comrade
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