hysteria
nounattested in dialogue
- United Kingdom//hɪˈstɪəɹiə//
- United States//hɪˈstɛɹiə//
- United States//hɪˈstɪɹiə//
Behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotions, in a wide range from joy to panic but usually including anxiety or fear.
noun
- 1
Behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotions, in a wide range from joy to panic but usually including anxiety or fear.
At the very end of the Middle Ages, Breughel depicted country folk wrapped up in fits of mass hysteria, and the historical accounts of these rural frenzies have explained the delirium in terms of the slender diet on which the poor had to subsist during the hungry gap.
- 2
A mental disorder characterized by emotional excitability etc. without an organic cause.
- 3
informalSynonym of conversion disorder.
- 4
historicalAny disorder of women with some psychiatric symptoms without other diagnosis, ascribed to uterine influences on the female body, lack of pregnancy, or lack of sex.
Etymology
From New Latin hysteria, a back-formation from Latin hystericus, from Ancient Greek ὑστερικός (husterikós, “suffering in the uterus, hysterical”), from ὑστέρα (hustéra, “womb”). Compare French hystérie.
Forms
- plural
- hysterias, hysteriae, hysteriæ
hysteria · Behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotions, in a wide range from joy to panic but usually including anxiety or fear.
hysterical · Of, or arising from hysteria.Hyun · A surname.hyung · An affectionate term of address for an older brother or…