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

• wildly
• desperately
• wild
• uncontrollably
• frenziedly

Examples of frantically in a Sentence

the veterinarian ran frantically from room to room looking for the escaped hamster

Recent Examples on the Web

Landasoft emails show engineers frantically fixing a software bug to release hundreds of people categorized as high-risk. —Sheryl Estrada, Fortune, 9 Sep. 2025

Footage from the rescue mission shared by Michigan State Police on X shows the woman frantically waving towards the helicopter above her while lost amongst the trees. —Latoya Gayle, PEOPLE, 8 Sep. 2025

Men tumble into each other, frantically fighting to get back up, while others faint from exhaustion. —Nick Romano, Entertainment Weekly, 8 Sep. 2025

Dexter begins frantically searching the paperwork for something that could point him toward the eight-digit vault code that could grant him freedom. —Nick Caruso, TVLine, 5 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1739, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for frantically

• romantically
• semantically