Pronunciation: ‘fe-“brI(-&)l also ‘fE-
Function: adjective
Etymology: Medieval Latin febrilis, from Latin febris fever
: marked or caused by fever
From Joe Morgenstern’s review of “3:10 to Yuma” in today’s WSJ:
And one can debate the ambiguities of the ending — which substantially resembles the original — but the febrile and semicoherent action climax that precedes it leaves logic in the dust.
Would I have gone for “febrile” in describing an action sequence in a Western film? I dunno. It’s certainly a word that can remove the writing from its subject. In the case above, using “feverish” and “semicoherent” adjacent to each other probably would’ve been a bit much. Given the tenor of Joe’s overall review, which posits that this remake is an overblown rendition of the subtler original, febrile probably does exactly what he wants it to.
Try to work febrile into conversation today, and let me know if you pull it off.