hysteria
UK /hɪˈstɪəɹiə/ · US /hɪˈstɛɹiə/ noun
Forms hysterias hysteriae hysteriæ
- noun Behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotions, in a wide range from joy to panic but usually including anxiety or fear.
- noun (medicine, nosologically dated) A mental disorder characterized by emotional excitability etc. without an organic cause.
- noun (informal, psychopathology) Synonym of conversion disorder.
- noun (psychiatry, until early 20th century, now historical) Any disorder of women with some psychiatric symptoms without other diagnosis, ascribed to uterine influences on the female body, lack of pregnancy, or lack of sex.
Synonyms
conversion disorder uterine melancholy craze delirium frenzy fury hysterical neurosis
Etymology
From New Latin hysteria, a back-formation from Latin hystericus, from Ancient Greek ὑστερικός (husterikós, “suffering in the uterus, hysterical”), from ὑστέρα (hustéra, “womb”). Compare French hystérie.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A nervous affection, occurring almost exclusively in women, in which the emotional and reflex excitability is exaggerated, and the will power correspondingly diminished, so that the patient loses control over the emotions, becomes the victim of imaginary sensations, and often falls into paroxism or fits.
Etymology [NL.: cf. F. hystérie. See Hysteric.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “hysteria”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details