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Synonyms

hysteria

American  
[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.

hysteria British  
/ 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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
hysteria Cultural  

  1. 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.

Other Word Forms

  • subhysteria noun

Etymology

Origin of hysteria

First recorded in 1795–1805; hyster(ic) + -ia

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.