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delirium

UK/dɪˈlɪ.ɹi.əm/US/dɪˈlɪɹ.i.əm/
nounC1Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #9,513 of 15,258neutral

Delirium is a wild confused state caused by fever or drink. In delirium, delirium tremens, slip into delirium.

In hospital it is common in the very ill and the very old, and it comes and goes through a day, which is what separates it from dementia. Delirium tremens is the severe withdrawal state in somebody who has stopped drinking suddenly.

Definitions of delirium

  1. 1noundeliriumA wild confused state caused by fever or drink.C1

    “In his fever, he fell into a delirium and talked to people who weren't there.”

delirium is a state.

Where it comes from

  1. Latin

    dēlīrium — derangement, madness

  2. English, today

    delirium

Borrowed from Latin dēlīrium (“derangement, madness”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

delirium in the wild

  • The cause of delirium may be either a disease process inside the brain or a process outside the brain that nonetheless affects the brain.

    Delirium

  • Treatment of delirium requires identifying and managing the underlying causes, managing delirium symptoms, and reducing the risk of complications.

    Delirium

  • If the symptoms are severe, the term "substance intoxication delirium" may be used.

    Substance intoxication

  • The name delirium tremens was first used in 1813; however, the symptoms were well described since the 1700s.

    Delirium tremens

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.