hysteria

[hi-ster-ee-uh, -steer-] /hɪˈstɛr i ə, -ˈstɪər-/
noun
1.
an uncontrollable outburst of emotion or fear, often characterized by irrationality, laughter, weeping, etc.
2.
Psychoanalysis. a psychoneurotic disorder characterized by violent emotional outbreaks, disturbances of sensory and motor functions, and various abnormal effects due to autosuggestion.
3.
Psychiatry. conversion disorder.
Compare mass hysteria.
Origin
1795-1805; hyster(ic) + -ia
Related forms
subhysteria, noun
Examples from the web for hysteria
  • This hysteria has to stop.
  • Winners will be determined by audience hysteria.
  • This kind of non-thinking and stereotypically-driven hysteria has no place among civilized people.
  • Passengers had described the scene as mass hysteria.
  • Nice to see that hysteria is still alive and well in our society today.
  • It just fans the flames of misguided hysteria.
  • You know there is no scientific foundation for all this hysteria, and you of all people should deal with the facts.
  • There's going to be a sense of hysteria.
  • Her only intelligence lies in the fact that she knows how to make money off of a combination of hysteria and ignorance.
  • If they go into hysteria maybe then they need counseling on what the tests mean.
British Dictionary definitions for hysteria

hysteria

/hɪˈstɪərɪə/
noun
1.
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
2.
any frenzied emotional state, esp of laughter or crying
Word Origin
C19: from New Latin, from Latin hystericushysteric
Word Origin and History for hysteria
n.

1801, coined in medical Latin as an abstract noun from hysteric (see hysterical).

hysteria in Medicine

hysteria hys·ter·i·a (hĭ-stěr'ē-ə, -stēr'-)
n.

  1. A neurosis characterized by the presentation of a physical ailment without an organic cause, such as amnesia.

  2. Excessive or uncontrollable emotion, such as fear.

hys·ter'ic (hĭ-stěr'ĭk) or hys·ter'i·cal (hĭ-stěr'ĭ-kəl) adj.
hysteria in Culture

hysteria definition


A complex neurosis in which psychological conflict is turned into physical symptoms, such as amnesia, blindness, and paralysis, that have no underlying physical cause. Early in his career, Sigmund Freud worked on hysteria.