frantically

adverb

fran·​ti·​cal·​ly ˈfran-ti-k(ə-)lē 

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

searching frantically for the key fob

[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 of frantically

• 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

In another call, a woman frantically says that she and two elderly people were trapped in a house and could not get out. —Rachel Wolf, FOXNews.com, 6 Dec. 2025

The video shows another attendee — clad in Minnie Mouse ears and a Disney World jacket — frantically giving chest compressions to the fallen individual, whose current condition remains unclear. —Jami Ganz, Mercury News, 5 Dec. 2025

After 6-year-old Etan Patz vanished on his way to a school bus stop one morning in 1979, his parents, their friends and neighbors frantically scoured the gritty industrial streets and back alleys of Lower Manhattan for miles. —Ray Sanchez, CNN Money, 29 Nov. 2025

Around midnight Saturday, a woman frantically called 911 from Parkway Inn, a Miami Springs hotel, according to an arrest report and Rundle. —Devoun Cetoute, Miami Herald, 25 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1739, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for frantically

• romantically
• semantically