frantically

adverb

fran·​ti·​cal·​ly ˈfran-ti-k(ə-)lē 

: in a frantic manner : in a nervously hurried, desperate, or panic-stricken way

[Carlton] Fisk stood several feet down the line, frantically urging the ball fair with his hands. It hit the yellow foul pole above the wall, a home run.

—Ron Fimrite

Wine companies, fearing that younger drinkers are slipping out of their grasp, have been frantically trying to create products that will be viewed as edgy, hip and fun.

—Mitch Frank

During the new moon, a hatch of baby sea turtles erupts from the sand, struggling frantically to get to the ocean.

—Bernice Notenboom

Synonyms

• amok
• amuck
• berserk
• berserkly
• frenetically
• frenziedly
• harum-scarum
• hectically
• helter-skelter
• madly
• pell-mell
• wild
• wildly

Examples of frantically in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Teddy has to stop Yasuda from frantically searching for cancer treatment trials all over the country. —Lincee Ray, EW.com, 3 May 2024

Griner had been able to send a location pin through WhatsApp of where she was being held, and Colas frantically arranged for a Russian lawyer, Alex Boykov, to meet her. —J Wortham January Lavoy Krish Seenivasan David Mason, New York Times, 2 May 2024

As the teams from both camps frantically moved through Helzberg Hall at the Kauffman Center For the Performing Arts preparing for their first joint session, Tech sat quietly, scrolling aimlessly through social media and playing parts of random songs from a variety of genres on his phone. —J.m. Banks, Kansas City Star, 2 May 2024

The coach and school administrators frantically searched for avenues to appeal. —Joseph Dycus, The Mercury News, 2 May 2024

The actors frantically scramble to find the key before giving up and forcing their way inside minutes before the launch. —Anthony Robledo, USA TODAY, 17 Apr. 2024

After the attack, for hours past midnight, thousands of cars thronged gas stations around Tehran; a friend FaceTimed me from a Tehran supermarket crowded with people frantically stocking up. —Arash Azizi, The Atlantic, 14 Apr. 2024

The humane society had left those details out of a previous post, and several neighbors reported seeing the coyote mom pacing the neighborhood and frantically searching for her pups. —Brooke Baitinger, Sacramento Bee, 29 Mar. 2024

Bhanu frantically searched for an immunity idol, not knowing Tiff already found it. —Anthony Robledo, USA TODAY, 21 Mar. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1739, in the meaning defined above