hysterical
adjectivecommon in dialogue
- //hɪˈstɛɹɪkəl//
Of, or arising from hysteria.
adjective
- 1
Of, or arising from hysteria.
Henrietta gasped for breath; but she swallowed down the hysterical emotion, and signed with her hand for Walter to go on.
An event of this nature, a marriage, or a refusal, or a proposal, thrills through a whole household of women, and sets all their hysterical sympathies at work.
- 2
Having, or prone to having hysterics.
- 3
Provoking uncontrollable laughter.
She was a fat, round little woman, richly apparelled in velvet and lace, […]; and the way she laughed, cackling like a hen, the way she talked to the waiters and the maid,[…]—all these unexpected phenomena impelled one to hysterical mirth, and made one class her with such immortally ludicrous types as Ally Sloper, the Widow Twankey, or Miss Moucher.
There is a certain irony in all of this because in their hysterical use of charge of “double standard” – that Israel is being “singled out for criticism”– it is Israel’s supporters who are themselves guilty of a “double standard”, since, if they were to have their way, it is Israel that would be singled out as the only country that cannot be criticised.
Etymology
From hysteric + -al, from Latin hystericus, from Ancient Greek ὑστερικός (husterikós, “suffering in the womb, hysterical”), from ῠ̔στέρᾱ (hŭstérā, “womb”).
Forms
- comparative
- more hysterical
- superlative
- most hysterical
hysterical · Of, or arising from hysteria.
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