fever
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A higher than normal body temperature of a person, usually caused by disease.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
feeverSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈfivɚ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
medicine
A higher than normal body temperature of a person (or, generally, a mammal), usually caused by disease.
usually in combination with one or more preceding words
Any of various diseases.
medicine
A rise in the temperature of the body; frequently a symptom of infection
in combinationslangoften derogatory
Sexual attraction towards a specific group of people.
A state of excitement or anxiety.
verb
To put into a fever; to affect with fever.
To become fevered.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A higher than normal body temperature of a person (or, generally, a mammal), usually caused by disease.
Used this way, fever is a specialist word with a faintly unfavourable edge. This is a clinical use: it belongs to medical description, where it is factual rather than emotive.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly negative
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Clinical and detached
Where it naturally appears
- Medicine/healthcare
- Science
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use fever
- “The child had a high fever and felt very tired all day.”
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.