What is a 'fever pitch'

Yishu H.

There's an English phrase to describe a state of high emotion, and because it's got the word 'pitch' in it, it's often associated with football. 


Let’s see some examples of this expression, shall we?

  • I was at the school sports day and excitement was at fever pitch. The kids were going crazy supporting their classmates!
  • Criticism of the company CEO was at fever pitch. The staff were really unhappy. 
  • Anger reached fever pitch after the referee said it wasn't a goal.

Today, we learned about the expression 'fever pitch', which means a state of high emotion. As we saw in the examples, it's not just excitement that can be a fever pitch. It can be any strong emotion, such as anger or criticism. And we often use it with 'reach' or the verb 'to be' plus 'at' -- so 'excitement reached fever pitch', or anger was at fever pitch. And one last point - it's not a football expression, but it contains the word 'pitch' it's often used when describing football. 


Did you remember the phrase today? I am Yishu. See you tomorrow and bye for now!


Notes: pitch (US filed): an area painted with lines for playing particular sports, especially football.
picture of pitch

This column was published by the author in their personal capacity.
The opinions expressed in this column are the author's own and do not reflect the view of Cafetalk.

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