Make Your Point > Archived Issues > FRENETIC
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connect today's word to others:
When you accidentally sleep in too late, see what time it is, curse, leap up, and shove your toothbrush into your mouth, flinging foamy bits of toothpaste everywhere, you're being frenetic. You feel (and look) like you're going mad.
Frenetic, sometimes spelled phrenetic, comes from Greek roots meaning "inflammation of the mind or brain," which is why it looks a bit like the words phrenology (literally "the study of the mind") and schizophrenia (literally "a splitting of the mind").
See if you can recall these two synonyms of frenetic: r___d and z____us.
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
make your point with...
"FRENETIC"
Frenetic people and things are moving in a wild, fast, crazy, uncontrolled way.
Pronunciation:
freh NET ick
Part of speech:
Adjective.
(Adjectives are describing words, like "large" or "late."
They can be used in two ways:
1. Right before a noun, as in "a frenetic thing" or "a frenetic person."
2. After a linking verb, as in "It was frenetic" or "He was frenetic.")
Other forms:
Frenetically, freneticness.
Sometimes you'll see a different spelling: "phrenetic."
How to use it:
When you need to emphasize someone's wild, violent, emotional movements, pick "frenetic."
Talk about frenetic people and animals, frenetic activity and movement, frenetic energy and passion, frenetic art and music and films, frenetic events and periods of time, a frenetic pace, etc.
You can get a bit abstract and talk about frenetic thoughts and memories, frenetic conversations, frenetic news cycles, and so on.
examples:
Life is as laid-back in Hilo as it is frenetic in New York City.
As a director, Baz Luhrmann is known for his frenetic style, for party scenes full of sound, color, motion, and glamor that blur into an indistinguishable mess.
study it now:
Look away from the screen to explain the definition in your own words. You’ll know you understand what "frenetic" means when you can explain it without saying "frenzied" or "frantic."
try it out:
Fill in the blank: "No matter how well you plan it, _____ will turn frenetic."
Example: "No matter how well you plan it, a preschooler's birthday party will turn frenetic."
before you review:
Spend at least 20 seconds occupying your mind with the game below. Then try the review questions. Don’t go straight to the review now—let your working memory empty out first.
"Bits & Pieces." This month, we're playing with affixes and combining forms, the bits and pieces of our language, matching them to their meanings. The more of these bits and pieces you know, the better you are at decoding unfamiliar words, which is sooo satisfying! I'll share the answers in each subsequent issue.
Here are the answers from our previous issue:
1. "-aceous" means "of the nature of (a certain family)."
2. "cet-" means "whale."
3. "-florous" means "related to flowers."
4. "lepido-" means "scales."
5. "ptero-" means "feather or wing."
Try this set today. It's all about society:
1. "cine-" means _____.
2. "-phile" means _____.
3. "-meister" means _____.
4. "klepto-" means _____.
5. "-mongery" means _____.
Answer bank:
A. thieving
B. expert
C. film
D. enthusiast
E. trade or traffic
review today's word:
1. One opposite of FRENETIC is
A. CATEGORICAL.
B. RELAXED.
C. LIMITED.
2. The story opens with the narrator's frenetic _____.
A. denials of his own madness
B. memories of crisp fall afternoons
C. peaceful summer days by the lake
Answers are below.
a final word:
Make Your Point is crafted with love and brought to you each weekday morning by Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
From Liesl's blog:
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.
Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
Answers to review questions:
1. B
2. A
When you accidentally sleep in too late, see what time it is, curse, leap up, and shove your toothbrush into your mouth, flinging foamy bits of toothpaste everywhere, you're being frenetic. You feel (and look) like you're going mad.
"FRENETIC" Frenetic people and things are moving in a wild, fast, crazy, uncontrolled way. Other forms:
Life is as laid-back in Hilo as it is frenetic in New York City.
Look away from the screen to explain the definition in your own words. You’ll know you understand what "frenetic" means when you can explain it without saying "frenzied" or "frantic."
Fill in the blank: "No matter how well you plan it, _____ will turn frenetic."
Spend at least 20 seconds occupying your mind with the game below. Then try the review questions. Don’t go straight to the review now—let your working memory empty out first.
1. One opposite of FRENETIC is
Make Your Point is crafted with love and brought to you each weekday morning by Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. |