perfervid
adjective
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The adjectives "fervent," "fervid," and "perfervid" all derive from the Latin verb fervēre, meaning "to boil," and suggest a bubbling up of intense feeling. "Fervent" was the first to enter the English language in the 14th century. It stresses sincerity and steadiness of emotional warmth and zeal, as in "Her colleagues expressed fervent good wishes." The next to emerge was "fervid" in the late 16th century. It too suggests warmth but adds an element of spontaneity and feverishness. A lover might write a fervid billet-doux to his beloved, for example. With its first known appearance in print dating back only to 1833, "perfervid" is a relative newcomer to English, but it implies the most extreme or exaggerated expression of emotion. Its intensity comes from "per-," a prefix meaning "thoroughly."
Synonyms
- ardent
- blazing
- burning
- charged
- demonstrative
- emotional
- fervent
- fervid
- feverish
- fiery
- flaming
- glowing
- hot-blooded
- impassioned
- incandescent
- intense
- passional
- passionate
- red-hot
- religious
- superheated
- torrid
- vehement
- warm
- warm-blooded
Example Sentences
Peter Schjeldahl, The New Yorker, 4 Apr. 2022 This latest controversy won’t dent Thomas’s formidable reputation as a jurist, but it’s another mark against his perfervid critics who have no decency. Rich Lowry, National Review, 1 Apr. 2022 So why, with all this perfervid material at her disposal, did the director, Haifaa Al-Mansour, and her co-screenwriter, Emma Jensen, opt for such cautiousness? Peter Rainer, The Christian Science Monitor, 25 May 2018 Down south near San Diego, gray-faced children toil in a slave-labor camp that Dickens could not have imagined in his most perfervid dreams. Joe Morgenstern, WSJ, 4 Oct. 2017 Word History
New Latin perfervidus, from Latin per- thoroughly + fervidus fervid
1833, in the meaning defined above
perfervid
adjective
Synonyms & Similar Words
- passionate
- passional
- fervent
- warm
- intense
- ardent
- emotional
- charged
- fervid
- enthusiastic
- religious
- glowing
- demonstrative
- impassioned
- fiery
- burning
- vehement
- feverish
- blazing
- flaming
- torrid
- incandescent
- superheated
- on fire
- hot-blooded
- warm-blooded
- zealous
- sentimental
- maudlin
- mawkish
- gushy
- sloppy
- red-hot
- histrionic
- gushing
- saccharine
- melodramatic
- sugary
- schmaltzy
- mushy
- sappy
- obsessed
- uninhibited
- infatuated
- enamored
- frenzied
- keen
- gung ho
- overheated
- orgiastic
- overexcited
- unreserved
- unrestrained
- overemotional
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
- dispassionate
- cold
- impassive
- cool
- dry
- objective
- detached
- impersonal
- unemotional
- emotionless
- reserved
- undemonstrative
Synonym Chooser
Some common synonyms of perfervid are ardent, fervent, fervid, impassioned, and passionate. While all these words mean "showing intense feeling," perfervid implies the expression of exaggerated or overwrought feelings.
The words ardent and perfervid can be used in similar contexts, but ardent implies an intense degree of zeal, devotion, or enthusiasm.
While in some cases nearly identical to perfervid, fervent stresses sincerity and steadiness of emotional warmth or zeal.
The words fervid and perfervid are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, fervid suggests warmly and spontaneously and often feverishly expressed emotion.
The synonyms impassioned and perfervid are sometimes interchangeable, but impassioned implies warmth and intensity without violence and suggests fluent verbal expression.
While the synonyms passionate and perfervid are close in meaning, passionate implies great vehemence and often violence and wasteful diffusion of emotion.