defervescent
- adjective
- /ˌdɛfərˈvɛsənt/
- Specialized
- The patient entered the defervescent phase after several days of high fever.
Examples
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The patient's condition became defervescent after the treatment.
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A defervescent state suggests improvement in cases of viral infection.
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Doctors monitored his defervescent response to the medication closely.
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After taking the medication, he felt defervescent.
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The patient entered the defervescent phase after several days of high fever.
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Doctors monitored his defervescent response to the medication closely.
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The patient's condition became defervescent after the treatment.
Antonyms
How Feverish
Surface Forms
Morphology
defervescent = fervescence (opaque) = de + fervescent
Although formed with the productive prefix de- plus a -escent-form root, the root 'fervescent' (relating to heat/boiling) is rare and not recognizable to typical learners, so the meaning 'abatement of fever' is not transparently derivable.
Etymology
The word defervescent comes from the Latin parts de- ('down' or 'away') and fervescere ('to start to be hot' or 'to boil'), and is like the root in the English word fervent. So, defervescent describes a fever 'going down', meaning the heat and symptoms are getting less.