Hysteria among a group of people is a state of uncontrolled excitement, anger, or panic.
No one could help getting carried away by the hysteria.
Synonyms: frenzy, panic, madness, agitation More Synonyms of hysteria
2. uncountable noun
A person who is suffering from hysteria is in a state of violent and disturbed emotion as a result of shock.
[medicine]
By now, she was screaming, completely overcome with hysteria.
hysteria in British English
(hɪˈstɪərɪə)
noun
1. old-fashioned
a psychological 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
Word origin
C19: from New Latin, from Latin hystericushysteric
hysteria in American English
(hɪˈstɛriə; hɪˈstɪriə)
noun
1.
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.
2.
any outbreak of wild, uncontrolled excitement or feeling, such as fits of laughing and crying
SIMILAR WORDS: ˈmania
Word origin
ModL < hysteric + -ia
Examples of 'hysteria' in a sentence
hysteria
There was a sort of hysteria about them.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
Yet the hysteria is still surrounding us.
The Sun (2008)
You and your friend were suffering from mass hysteria.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
All three of these diagnoses were once subsumed under the now obsolete name hysteria.
Herman, Judith Lewis Trauma and Recovery (1992)
Can you imagine the hysteria which would surround that fight.
The Sun (2014)
Equally unexplained is the mass hysteria that has struck randomly down the years.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
The celebrity hysteria about the show was in full swing.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
Any realistic assessment is you lost in some degree of mass hysteria.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
So why the continuing hysteria about aliens?
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
One parent whose daughter was sent home said he suspected that mass hysteria may have been the cause.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
They had a high incidence of hysteria and caused deaths of many of our old men by freezing under fire.
Max Hastings Nemesis: The Battle for Japan, 194445 (2007)
The twins caused mass hysteria as they went back to school in Dublin yesterday.
The Sun (2009)
This is the polar opposite of the hysteria surrounding Evans.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
The entire tale is one of fabrication and hysteria caused by the disaster's deep emotional impact.
Eaton, John P & Haas, Charles A Titanic - Destination disaster (1987)
Take the hysteria surrounding giant African snails.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Just when hysteria was about to engulf the nation, guess what?
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
It would cause mass hysteria.
The Sun (2013)
I don't doubt it is a problem but they just caused hysteria.
The Sun (2009)
But, given the hysteria surrounding this case, it was important justice was seen to be done.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Word lists with
hysteria
Psychology terms
In other languages
hysteria
British English: hysteria NOUN
Hysteria among a group of people is a state of uncontrolled excitement, anger, or panic.
No one could help getting carried away by the hysteria.
American English: hysteria
Brazilian Portuguese: histeria
Chinese: 歇斯底里
European Spanish: histeria
French: hystérie
German: Hysterie
Italian: isteria
Japanese: 大騒ぎ
Korean: 히스테리
European Portuguese: histeria
Latin American Spanish: histeria
(noun)
Definition
any uncontrolled emotional state, such as of panic, anger, or excitement
No one could help getting carried away by the hysteria.
Synonyms
frenzy
Something like a frenzy enveloped them.
panic
The earthquake has caused panic among the population.
madness
The country was in a state of madness.
agitation
delirium
I was in a delirium of panic.
hysterics
unreason
Additional synonyms
in the sense of delirium
Definition
violent excitement
I was in a delirium of panic.
Synonyms
frenzy,
passion,
rage,
fever,
fury,
ecstasy,
hysteria
in the sense of madness
The country was in a state of madness.
Synonyms
frenzy,
riot,
furore,
uproar,
abandon,
excitement,
agitation,
intoxication,
unrestraint
in the sense of panic
Definition
a sudden overwhelming feeling of terror or anxiety, sometimes affecting a whole group of people
The earthquake has caused panic among the population.