hysteria
Americannoun
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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.
To win with 10 players in these surroundings, frantic to the point of hysteria as 11 agonising minutes were added on, only underscores just how good this was.
From BBC • Jul. 6, 2026
Mr. Jacobsen notes that some of those ginning up hysteria about the risks associated with sunlight stand to profit from it.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 16, 2026
“It is a virus for which humanity has no cure,” Noah tells his former colleague, implying the mass hysteria caused by the confirmation of aliens will only drive us closer to ruin.
From Salon • Jun. 13, 2026
The second pilot meets their passengers’ fear with hysteria, shrieking, outburst—that pilot shames their passengers, saying, “I can’t do my job because of YOU.”
From Slate • May 10, 2026
A wave of hysteria welled up inside Jonathan.
From "The Fighting Ground" by Avi
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.
