Standard Lemma guide

delirium

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • dĭlĭʹrēəm
  • Received-Pronunciation: /dɪˈlɪ.ɹi.əm/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /dɪˈlɪɹ.i.əm/
  • rhymes with -ɪəɹiəm
  • CMU ARPABET: D IH0 L IH1 R IY0 AH0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

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.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: medicine, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Wild, frenzied excitement or ecstasy.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

a usually brief state of excitement and mental confusion often accompanied by hallucinations

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: mental disorder, mental disturbance, disturbance, psychological disorder, folie

4

noun

Meaning 4

state of violent mental agitation

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: craze, frenzy, fury, hysteria

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: mania, manic disorder

Narrower terms: nympholepsy, mass hysteria, epidemic hysertia

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *de Proto-Indo-European *-h1 Proto-Indo-European *déh1 Proto-Italic *dē Latin dē Latin dē- Proto-Indo-European *leys- Proto-Indo-European *-eh2 Proto-Indo-European *lóyseh2 Proto-Italic *loizā Latin līra Proto-Indo-European *-h2 Proto-Indo-European *-éh2 Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh2yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h2tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin dēlīrō Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós Proto-Italic *-ijos Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Latin -ium Latin dēlīriumbor. English delirium Borrowed from Latin dēlīrium (“derangement, madness”).

Across languages

Translations

76 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: jerm — mental state of confusion
  • Arabic: هَذَيَان (haḏayān) — mental state of confusion
  • Armenian: զառանցանք (zaṙancʻankʻ) — mental state of confusion
  • Armenian: ցնորք (cʻnorkʻ) — mental state of confusion
  • Asturian: deliriu — mental state of confusion
  • Azerbaijani: sayıqlama — mental state of confusion
  • Azerbaijani: deliriya — mental state of confusion
  • Basque: eldarnio — mental state of confusion
  • Basque: zoraldi — mental state of confusion
  • Basque: zorabio — mental state of confusion
  • Belarusian: брэд (bred) — mental state of confusion
  • Bulgarian: бълну́ване (bǎlnúvane) — mental state of confusion
  • Bulgarian: дели́риум (delírium) — mental state of confusion
  • Catalan: deliri — mental state of confusion
  • Chinese Mandarin: 譫妄 /谵妄 (zhānwàng) — mental state of confusion
  • Chinese Mandarin: 神志昏迷 (shénzhì hūnmí) — mental state of confusion
  • Czech: delirium — mental state of confusion
  • Danish: delirium — mental state of confusion
  • Dutch: delier — mental state of confusion
  • Dutch: delirium — mental state of confusion
  • Esperanto: deliro — mental state of confusion
  • Finnish: houretila — mental state of confusion
  • Finnish: sekavuus — mental state of confusion
  • Finnish: delirium — mental state of confusion
  • French: délire — mental state of confusion
  • Galician: delirio — mental state of confusion
  • German: Delirium — mental state of confusion
  • German: Fieberphantasie — mental state of confusion
  • German: Taumel — mental state of confusion
  • Greek: παραλήρημα (paralírima) — mental state of confusion
  • Greek: ντελίριο (ntelírio) — mental state of confusion
  • Gujarati: ચિત્તભ્રમણા (cittabhramṇā) — mental state of confusion
  • Hebrew: דֶלִירְיוּם (deliryum) — mental state of confusion
  • Hungarian: delírium — mental state of confusion
  • Icelandic: óráð — mental state of confusion
  • Indonesian: delirium — mental state of confusion
  • Irish: rámhaille — mental state of confusion
  • Italian: delirio — mental state of confusion
  • Japanese: せん妄 (senmō) — mental state of confusion
  • Japanese: 譫妄 (senmō) — mental state of confusion
  • Kazakh: сандырақ (sandyraq) — mental state of confusion
  • Korean: 섬망 (seommang) — mental state of confusion
  • Latin: dēlīrium — mental state of confusion
  • Latvian: delīrijs — mental state of confusion
  • Macedonian: делириум (delirium) — mental state of confusion
  • Māori: kutukutuahi — mental state of confusion
  • Māori: ngutungutuahi — mental state of confusion
  • Māori: kuawa — mental state of confusion
  • Māori: mate kuawa — mental state of confusion
  • Norwegian Bokmål: delirium — mental state of confusion
  • Persian: دلیریوم (deliryum) — mental state of confusion
  • Plautdietsch: Feebadroom — mental state of confusion
  • Polish: majaczenie — mental state of confusion
  • Polish: delirium — mental state of confusion
  • Polish: delirka — mental state of confusion
  • Portuguese: delírio — mental state of confusion
  • Romanian: delir — mental state of confusion
  • Russian: бред (bred) — mental state of confusion
  • Russian: дели́рий (delírij) — mental state of confusion
  • Russian: горя́чка (gorjáčka) — mental state of confusion
  • Scottish Gaelic: breisleach — mental state of confusion
  • Scottish Gaelic: boile — mental state of confusion
  • Scottish Gaelic: mearan — mental state of confusion
  • Scottish Gaelic: bruaillean — mental state of confusion
  • Serbo-Croatian: делиријум — mental state of confusion
  • Serbo-Croatian: delirijum — mental state of confusion
  • Slovak: delírium — mental state of confusion
  • Slovene: delirij — mental state of confusion
  • Spanish: delirio — mental state of confusion
  • Swedish: delirium — mental state of confusion
  • Tagalog: deliryo — mental state of confusion
  • Turkish: sayıklama — mental state of confusion
  • Turkish: deliriyum — mental state of confusion
  • Ukrainian: бред (bred) — mental state of confusion
  • Ukrainian: делі́рій (delírij) — mental state of confusion
  • Vietnamese: mê sảng — mental state of confusion
Real reading context

delirium in complete knowledge articles