Meanings
hives1
singular hive
- pluralplural normallyItchy, swollen, red areas of the skin which can appear quickly in response to an allergen or due to other conditions.
When she recovers enough to look down at her arms [...] she blinks to see them covered in faint, but rising, puffy welts. Hives. She's breaking out in hives.
2020, N. K. Jemisin, The City We Became, Orbit, page 1081 more example
So when I was diagnosed with a fairly difficult-to-treat disease called idiopathic angioedema and chronic urticaria (a fancy way of saying we don’t know why you swell and hey, enjoy the 24/7 hives) six months ago, I wasn't quite sure how to cope.
2014 January 20, Simona Supekar, “How the Internet Helped Me Cope With My Rare Disease”, in The AtlanticSynonyms: urticaria, nettle-rash
hives2
- pluralplural of hive
- indicativepresentsingularthird personthird-person singular simple present indicative of hive
Synonyms & antonyms
nounItchy, swollen, red areas of the skin which can appear quickly in response to an allergen or due to other conditions.
More synonyms by meaning
nounan itchy skin eruption characterized by weals with pale interiors and well-defined red margins; usually the result of an allergic response to insect bites or food or drugs
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
hives · noun
Uncertain, but frequently connected with heave, even if such a derivation is phonologically difficult.
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with hives
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
hives. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hives
“hives.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hives. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hives,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hives.
Source: hives on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.