mass hysteria
noun Psychology.
a condition affecting a group of persons, characterized by excitement or anxiety, irrational behavior or beliefs, or inexplicable symptoms of illness.
Nearby words
mass affluent, mass book, mass card, mass defect, mass extinction, mass hysteria, mass in, mass leave, mass man, mass market, mass media
Origin of mass hysteria
First recorded in 1930–35
Also called epidemic hysteria.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Medicine definitions for mass hysteria
mass hysteria
n.
Spontaneous, en masse development of identical physical or emotional symptoms among a group of individuals, as in a classroom of schoolchildren.
A socially contagious frenzy of irrational behavior in a group of people as a reaction to an event.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
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