1. Inflammation of the brain or its membranes; brain fever.
Usage: archaic; medical history
2. Violent delirium or frenzy; a state of extreme mental disturbance.
Usage: archaic; figurative

Examples

• The physician diagnosed the patient with phrenitis after observing high fever and confusion.
• In 19th-century literature, phrenitis was often depicted as a cause of sudden madness.
• The character's phrenitis rendered him unable to recognize his own family.
• Medical texts from the 1700s frequently mentioned phrenitis as a serious brain ailment.
• The doctor feared that the infection would develop into phrenitis if left untreated.