When you are overbooked for the holiday season and supposed to attend two parties every day, this is an example of a hectic schedule.
- designating or of the recurrent or persistent fever accompanying wasting diseases, esp. tuberculosis
- of, affected with, or characteristic of a wasting disease, as tuberculosis
- Archaic red or flushed, as with fever
- characterized by confusion, rush, excitement, etc.
Origin of hecticaltered (after French or L) ; from Middle English etik ; from Old French étique (Fr hectique) ; from Late Latin hecticus ; from Classical Greek hektikos, habitual, hectic ; from hexis, permanent condition or habit of the body ; from echein, to have: for Indo-European base see school
- Characterized by intense activity, confusion, or haste: “There was nothing feverish or hectic about his vigor” (Erik Erikson).
- Medicine Of, relating to, or being a fever that fluctuates during the day, as in tuberculosis or septicemia.
- Consumptive; feverish.
Origin of hecticMiddle English etik, recurring fever, from Old French etique, from Late Latin hecticus, from Greek hektikos, habitual, consumptive (as a fever), from hexis, habit, from ekhein, to be in a certain condition; see segh- in Indo-European roots.
(comparative more hectic, superlative most hectic)
From Old French etique, from Medieval Latin *hecticus, from Ancient Greek έκτικός (ektikos, “habitual, hectic, consumptive”), from έξις (exis, “a state or habit of body or of mind, condition”), from ἔχειν (ekhein, “to have, hold, intransitive be in a certain state”).