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