hysteria
an uncontrollable outburst of emotion or fear, often characterized by irrationality, laughter, weeping, etc.
Psychoanalysis. a psychoneurotic disorder characterized by violent emotional outbreaks, disturbances of sensory and motor functions, and various abnormal effects due to autosuggestion.
Psychiatry. conversion disorder.
Origin of hysteria
1Other words from hysteria
- sub·hys·te·ri·a, noun
- Compare mass hysteria.
Words Nearby hysteria
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use hysteria in a sentence
Over the weekend, a GameStop store in Maryland illustrated the disconnect between the Wall Street hysteria that has sent the company’s stock price to dizzying heights and the video game retailer’s real-world struggles.
Despite record stock surge, GameStop is still struggling to stay afloat | Abha Bhattarai, Taylor Telford | February 1, 2021 | Washington PostThe ensuing hysteria led to sheriffs’ offices and firefighters wasting critical time and resources on nuisance calls.
Facebook’s new tool to stop fake news is a game changer—if the company would only use it | Jeff | October 18, 2020 | FortuneGiven the risk of misinformation before and even more important immediately after the election, anything that tamps down the hysteria out there is particularly needed.
So that’s been my kind of push and effort to make sure we do things smartly, common sense, avoid the hysteria, get people back to work and get people healthy at the same time.
Supervisor by Day, But a COVID-19 Skeptic on the Airwaves | Katy Stegall | August 20, 2020 | Voice of San DiegoI’m just trying to make sure the … numbers match the hysteria and that’s not the case right now.
Supervisor by Day, But a COVID-19 Skeptic on the Airwaves | Katy Stegall | August 20, 2020 | Voice of San Diego
“Vicious pecking, avian hysteria, mysterious deaths, and even cannibalism” are the results, he writes.
The History of the Chicken: How This Humble Bird Saved Humanity | William O’Connor | December 27, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe best way to fix the Internet would be to let the Kardashian butt hysteria die down.
#FixTheInternet: The Hashtag That Beat Back Kim Kardashian’s Butt | Emily Shire | November 14, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTKorematsu knew firsthand the dangers of war-time hysteria and pleaded that we not make that mistake again.
I might suggest a title: “Andromeda Strain 2: The Predictable hysteria.”
At the time, before ISIS had conquered Mosul, the second-largest city in Iraq, the attack evoked outrage but not hysteria.
French Jihadi Mehdi Nemmouche Is the Shape of Terror to Come | Christopher Dickey | September 9, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIts internal uses are in hysteria, and 136 in such conditions as diarrhoea, dysentery and cholera.
The walking may simulate paralytic forms if hysteria is mixed with the neurasthenia.
Essays In Pastoral Medicine | Austin MalleyThere is no direct connection between hysteria and the disorders of the sexual organs.
Essays In Pastoral Medicine | Austin MalleyThe Tarantism so common in Italy from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century is another example of epidemic hysteria.
Essays In Pastoral Medicine | Austin MalleyThere are numerous theories formulated to explain hysteria; some are ingenious, especially that of Janet, but none is convincing.
Essays In Pastoral Medicine | Austin Malley
British Dictionary definitions for hysteria
/ (hɪˈstɪərɪə) /
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
any frenzied emotional state, esp of laughter or crying
Origin of hysteria
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for hysteria
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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