hysterical
Americanadjective
-
uncontrollably emotional.
-
irrational from fear, emotion, or an emotional shock.
-
causing unrestrained laughter; very funny.
Oh, that joke is hysterical!
- Synonyms:
- ludicrous, laughable, uproarious, hilarious
-
Psychoanalysis, Psychiatry.
adjective
-
of or suggesting hysteria
hysterical cries
-
suffering from hysteria
-
informal wildly funny
Usage
More context on hysterical In everyday usage, hysterical means "uncontrollably emotional."But guess who usually gets marked with that label? Women. What’s more, hysterical comes from the Greek word for "womb." It was once thought that hysteria was a condition that only affected women—and was caused by disturbances in the uterus.
Given the sexism associated with this word, hysterical isn’t exactly a laughing matter.
If knowing the history of hysterical has got you reflecting on your word choices, this slideshow, "These Common Words Have Offensive Histories," discusses many other words whose place in your vocab you may want to reconsider.Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of hysterical
First recorded in 1605–15; from Latin hysteric(us) hysteric + -al 1
Explanation
Hysterical means "marked by uncontrollable, extreme emotion." If your favorite sports team wins a championship, you might get hysterical and start weeping and screaming all at once. Hysterical comes from the medical Latin word hystericus, which described a female neurotic condition, thought to be caused by a dysfunction of the uterus. Hysterical is still used today by psychiatrists, though in a broader way, to describe someone suffering from a psychological stress condition. Hysterical can also mean "extremely funny," even more so than hilarious.
Vocabulary lists containing hysterical
Wonder
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The Diary of Anne Frank
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The House on Mango Street
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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.
Hysterical This new special takes viewers backstage and on the road with veteran comedians and rising stars to discover how a group of boundary-breaking women are becoming the voices of their generation and their gender.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 1, 2021
And they were probably thinking, "Hysterical woman, you must have seen something else. The Germans couldn't possibly be doing anything like that."
From Salon • Apr. 5, 2020
Hysterical punctuation and capital letters were the logs on the fire of his persecution.
From Washington Post • Dec. 19, 2019
Hysterical surrealism, like all surrealism, provides a visual and narrative way out for us metaphorically, through its characters, people who are otherwise trapped.
From The Guardian • Oct. 20, 2018
Hysterical manifestations are indeed common at all the noted shrines, and wherever the excitement of exorcism is at hand to feed the morbid preoccupation with self of the hysterical.
From Rome by Malleson, Hope
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.
