hysteria
hysteria Lexical Profile
hysteria Game Scores & Validity
• noun
Exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion or excitement, especially among a group of people.
"The sudden announcement of the band's reunion sparked mass hysteria among the waiting fans."
An old-fashioned medical term for a psychological disorder characterized by conversion of mental stress into physical symptoms or by emotional outbursts.
"Nineteenth-century physicians frequently diagnosed patients exhibiting unexplained paralysis or fainting with hysteria."
Word Nuance & Usage
In modern clinical psychology and psychiatry, "hysteria" is considered an obsolete and historically sexist diagnostic term; contemporary medicine classifies these conditions as conversion disorders, somatic symptom disorders, or dissociative disorders.
• Rhymes for hysteria
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the early 19th century from Modern Latin hysteria, derived from Ancient Greek hystera ("womb"), reflecting the ancient Greek medical belief that emotional disturbances in women were caused by dysfunctions or movements of the uterus.