Hysteria Definition

hĭ-stĕrē-ə, -stîr-
noun
Behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion, such as fear or panic.
American Heritage Medicine
A psychiatric condition variously characterized by emotional excitability, excessive anxiety, sensory and motor disturbances, or the unconscious simulation of organic disorders, such as blindness, deafness, etc.
Webster's New World
Any outbreak of wild, uncontrolled excitement or feeling, such as fits of laughing and crying.
Webster's New World
Synonyms:

Other Word Forms of Hysteria

Noun

Singular:
hysteria
Plural:
hysteri, hysterias

Origin of Hysteria

  • From New Latin hysteria, from hysteric, from Latin hystericus, from Ancient Greek ὑστερικός (hysterikos, “suffering in the uterus, hysterical”), from ὑστέρα (hustera, “womb”). Compare French hystérie.

    From Wiktionary

  • New Latin hyster(ic) –ia

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

Find Similar Words

Find similar words to hysteria using the buttons below.

Words Starting With

Words Ending With

Unscrambles

hysteria