delirium
/dɪˈlɪ.ɹi.əm/US/dɪˈlɪɹ.i.əm/
delirium noun: a temporary mental state with a sudden onset, usually reversible, including symptoms of confusion, inability to concentrate, disorientation, anxiety, and sometimes hallucinations. Causes can include dehydration, drug intoxication, and severe infection.
Noun
delirium (countable and uncountable, plural deliriums or deliria)
- A temporary mental state with a sudden onset, usually reversible, including symptoms of confusion, inability to concentrate, disorientation, anxiety, and sometimes hallucinations. Causes can include dehydration, drug intoxication, and severe infection.
- The popular delirium [of the French Revolution] at first caught his enthusiastic mind.1824, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], Tales of a Traveller, (please specify |part=1 to 4), Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, […], →OCLC
- Better to decay in absolute delirium, than to be the victim of the methodical unreason of ill-bestowed love.1826, [Mary Shelley], The Last Man. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC
- Wild, frenzied excitement or ecstasy.
delirium meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
delirium in Tamil
- ஜன்னி, உளக்குழப்பம், உளத்தடுமாற்றம், சன்னி, சித்தப்பிரமை, பிதற்றல்
delirium in Urdu
- delirium
- بحران buhrān
delirium in Bengali
- প্রলাপ, মানসিক বিভ্রান্তি, অসুস্থতার কারণে সাময়িক চেতনাভ্রম, উত্তেজনা
delirium in Malayalam
- ഉന്മാദം, വിഭ്രാന്തി, ഹർഷോന്മാദം, ആനന്ദമൂർച്ഛ, സന്നിപാതം
More languagesFewer languages
- delirium in Kannada
- ಸನ್ನಿ, ತೀವ್ರ ಜ್ವರದಿಂದ ಅಸಂಬದ್ಧವಾಗಿ ಮಾತನಾಡುವುದು, ಜಲ್ಪ, ಚಿತ್ತವಿಭ್ರಮ
- delirium in Gujarati
- ચિત્તભ્રમણા cittabhramṇā
- delirium in Tagalog
- deliryo
- delirium in Arabic
- هَذَيَان haḏayān
- delirium in Indonesian
- delirium
- delirium in Persian
- دلیریوم deliryum
- delirium in Vietnamese
- mê sảng
Examples of delirium in a sentence
- Very large doses of acetophenetidin may cause dizziness, delirium, or convulsions.
- These patients may improve by day only to relapse at night (nocturnal delirium or sundowner's syndrome).
- Behind the initials was a metaphor, a delirium tremens, a trembling unfurrowing of the mind's ploughshare.
Forms of delirium
| plural | deliriums |
|---|---|
| plural | deliria |
Origin of delirium
Borrowed from Latin dēlīrium (“derangement, madness”).
Words formed from delirium
Words that rhyme with delirium
- magisterium
- collyrium
- deuterium
- imperium
- meitnerium
- psalterium
- apterium
- archaebacterium
- bacterium
- cerium
- corynebacterium
- criterium
7 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about delirium
- What does delirium mean?
- Delirium means a temporary mental state with a sudden onset, usually reversible, including symptoms of confusion, inability to concentrate, disorientation, anxiety, and sometimes hallucinations. Causes can include dehydration, drug intoxication, and severe infection.
- What is delirium in Tamil?
- Delirium in Tamil is ஜன்னி, உளக்குழப்பம், உளத்தடுமாற்றம். See Delirium meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is delirium?
- Delirium is a noun.
- How do you pronounce delirium?
- Delirium is pronounced /dɪˈlɪ.ɹi.əm/ (UK).
- What is the plural of delirium?
- The plural of delirium is deliriums.
Words near delirium in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: delirium (page history and authors); delirium (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); بحران (Urdu) (page history and authors); Delirium (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); delirium (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); delirium (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-delirium.wav.
Cite this entry: “delirium.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/delirium. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.