Delirious Meaning
/dɪˈlɪə̯.ɹi.əs/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjBeing in the state of delirium.
adjHaving uncontrolled excitement; ecstatic.
Sentence Examples
My little brother gets delirious when he's sleepy. He says the weirdest things.
He seems delirious with a high fever.
For a delirious word there is no answer.
CEFR Practice Quiz
After winning the lottery, he was ____ with joy and couldn't stop laughing.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
My little brother gets ____ when he's sleepy. He says the weirdest things.
Word Origin & History
From delirium + -ous; see also Latin delirus (“silly, doting, crazy”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Or has the shock, so harshly given,
[…] made me that delirious man
Whose fancy fuses old and new,
And flashes into false and true,
And mingles all without a plan?"
— 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XVI”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 26:
"[…]the angelic form of a creature whose very existence was a gigantic balm of Gilead to the lacerated body of our hero, and, in a half delirious state of mind, he felt like leaping mountains to raise prostrate female forms, and to become blessed with hymeneal joys of the most glorious character; but, his imagination soon forsook him, and a raging fever, accompanied by the most violent deadly delirium, ensued, which lasted a fortnight."
— 1872, Simon Mohler Landis, The Social War, Chapter III: Deacon Stew raves at Lucinda's Love for Victor:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
After winning the lottery, he was ____ with joy and couldn't stop laughing.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
My little brother gets ____ when he's sleepy. He says the weirdest things.