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
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.
As journalist Jane Coaston argued on the Hysteria podcast, birth rate panic is rarely sincere.
From Salon • Apr. 20, 2026
Hysteria about pedophiles, driven by conspiracy theories, has trampled truth.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 24, 2023
Def Leppard, whose hits include Animal and Hysteria, are currently on a world tour, and will next appear in their hometown of Sheffield at Bramall Lane on 22 May.
From BBC • Mar. 20, 2023
Michael Sanchez helped Page land a gig speaking in October at Politicon, a nonpartisan political convention, in a discussion titled “Sex, Spies and Videotape: Russian Hysteria in Context.”
From Washington Post • Feb. 5, 2019
Hysteria rose within me, and I cried out between sobs, “His noble mind is overthrown. Why, oh why did I grant him my love? I am undone!”
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
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.
