- Main Entry:
- hys·te·ria

- Pronunciation:
-
\his-ˈter-ē-ə, -ˈtir-\
- Function:
- noun
- Etymology:
- New Latin, from English hysteric, adjective, from Latin hystericus, from Greek hysterikos, from hystera womb; from the Greek notion that hysteria was peculiar to women and caused by disturbances of the uterus
- Date:
- 1801
1
: a psychoneurosis marked by emotional excitability and disturbances of the psychic, sensory, vasomotor, and visceral functions
2
: behavior exhibiting overwhelming or unmanageable fear or emotional excess <political hysteria>
—
hys·ter·ic
\-ˈter-ik\ noun
—
hys·ter·i·cal
\-ˈter-i-kəl\ also hysteric adjective
—
hys·ter·i·cal·ly
\-i-k(ə-)lē\ adverb