noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of hysteric
1650–60; < Latin hystericus < Greek hysterikós, suffering in the womb, hysterical (reflecting the Greeks' belief that hysteria was peculiar to women and caused by disturbances in the uterus); see hystero-, -ic
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"Going Into Hysteric" Sirs: When I read the article on Japan which had been printed in your journal issued on July 14, I could not refrain from laughing.
From Time Magazine Archive
Hysteric, -al, his-ter′ik, -al, adj. pertaining to, of the nature of, or affected with hysterics or hysteria: like hysterics, fitfully and violently emotional.—adv.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various
"Hysteric" tenderness also sometimes bears a considerable resemblance, superficially, to true intercostal neuralgia, in cases where the genuine disease does not exist.
From Neuralgia and the Diseases that Resemble it by Anstie, Francis E.
But breaks her prayer, which is vain, And raises herself again, In pale and barren pride; And casts, with the cruel glance Of her lidless eye, far and wide Hysteric radiance.
From Contemporary Belgian Poetry Selected and Translated by Jethro Bithell by Various
Hysteric suffocation is the perception of a globe rolling round in the abdomen, and ascending to the stomach and throat, and there inducing strangulation.
From Zoonomia, Vol. II Or, the Laws of Organic Life by Darwin, Erasmus
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
