hysteria
Americannoun
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hysterias
plural
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an uncontrollable outburst of emotion or fear, often characterized by irrationality, laughter, weeping, etc.
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Psychoanalysis. a psychoneurotic disorder characterized by violent emotional outbreaks, disturbances of sensory and motor functions, and various abnormal effects due to autosuggestion.
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Psychiatry. conversion disorder.
noun
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a mental disorder characterized by emotional outbursts, susceptibility to autosuggestion, and, often, symptoms such as paralysis that mimic the effects of physical disorders See also conversion disorder
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any frenzied emotional state, esp of laughter or crying
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of hysteria
First recorded in 1795–1805; hyster(ic) + -ia
Explanation
Hysteria is a medical condition or general state of extreme fear and panic. When hysteria sets in, people are out of control. In a medical sense, people who are feeling hysteria may be violent and having trouble perceiving reality. In a more general sense, when someone is hysterical, they're out of control — freaking out. Hysteria is the opposite of calmness. It's really a state of emotional chaos that often takes over during natural disasters and scary moments. Or if you're a 13 year old girl, when you go to a concert for your favorite boy band.
Vocabulary lists containing hysteria
Night
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Lord of the Flies
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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.
See Examples For:
At the very least, I would suggest that the Manchester City scandal, which has driven the already-overheated British media to new heights of hysteria, isn’t really about soccer or sports.
From Salon ● Oct. 4, 2026
Thomasin McKenzie plays a young woman, Alyce, steeped in her own trauma and loss, who attaches herself to the ploughman, and her ability to express wide-eyed, barely contained hysteria and fear is unmatched.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
The hysteria has been a many-splendored thing, outlasting the original revelations by weeks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
In stark contrast, within Fifa, the view from one Infantino loyalist is that the outcry, especially in Europe, is bordering on "hysteria", and fails to acknowledge the legitimacy he has globally.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
Who provoked this hysteria so that they might profit by it?
From "Native Son" by Richard Wright
That should cover the hysterias of the moment.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 24, 2024
These photos can be constant reminders, during today’s serial hysterias, of the sorrow that has accompanied the pursuit of a more perfect union.
From Washington Post ● May 6, 2021
Instead, it’s enough to send us into tiny hysterias throughout the day: Do I need to top off my battery before heading out for the night?
From The Verge ● Aug. 17, 2018
Motor mass hysterias — twitching, fainting, stuttering — are more rare and draw more attention.
From New York Times ● Mar. 7, 2012
These hysterias are well known to anybody who spends any time online, though the incidents are extraordinarily rare when viewed in proportion to total Net and Web use.
From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz
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.
