hysterically

[hi-ster-ik-lee]

adverb

1. in an unrestrained or uncontrolled way.

   Whatever she’s thinking comes out her mouth, so the whole team was hysterically laughing at her commentary on our game films.

   Keisha slid to the damp pavement in a heap and buried her face in her hands, sobbing hysterically.

2. in a way that is very funny.

   My friend's daughter is hysterically paranoid about autoflush toilets, so we’re always on the lookout for a traditional toilet just in case.

3. stemming from or caused by conversion disorder.

   A group of hysterically blind Cambodian women in California are the largest group of such people known in the world.

Other Word Forms

• semihysterically adverb
• unhysterically adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of hysterically¹

hysterical ( def. ) + -ly

Example Sentences

“I remember hearing the dogs barking hysterically. ... Did he try to save the house? Did he pass out?”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

I walked in and I was hysterically crying.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

When police arrested Anthony, the report says, he began "crying hysterically" and saying it was self-defense.

Read more on Salon

Elliotte smiled, Wyatt looked shocked and Bennett — then only 21 months old — simply sobbed hysterically.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

A video that went viral at the time showed a prominent news anchor hysterically gesticulating and accusing Chakraborty of being "a druggie".

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• crazily www.thesaurus.com
• desperately 
• energetically www.thesaurus.com
• excitedly www.thesaurus.com
• foolishly www.thesaurus.com
• frantically 
• furiously 
• hastily 
• intensely 
• passionately 
• recklessly 
• tumultuously www.thesaurus.com
• violently