hysteria

noun

hys·​te·​ria hi-ˈster-ē-ə  -ˈstir- 

1

: a psychoneurosis marked by emotional excitability and disturbances of the psychogenic, sensory, vasomotor, and visceral (see visceral sense 4) functions

2

: behavior exhibiting overwhelming or unmanageable fear or emotional excess

political hysteria

The plague had caused mass hysteria in the village.

Synonyms

• agitation
• deliriousness
• delirium
• distraction
• fever
• feverishness
• flap
• frenzy
• furor
• furore
• fury
• rage
• rampage
• uproar

Examples of hysteria in a Sentence

A few of the children began to scream, and soon they were all caught up in the hysteria.

Wartime hysteria led to many unfair accusations of treachery.

The spreading of the disease caused mass hysteria in the village.

Recent Examples on the Web

The White House has cited legislation passed during the peak of the nation’s Cold War hysteria, like the McCarran-Walter Act of 1952, which expanded the government’s deportation powers. —Rick Baldoz, The Conversation, 30 Apr. 2025

The rumors stem from the discoveries of eight bodies across Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts between March and April, fueling hysteria of a potential New England serial killer on Facebook, TikTok and other social media. —Audrey Conklin, FOXNews.com, 28 Apr. 2025

The lynchings take place against a backdrop of hysteria created by the R.S.S. and its allies—a paranoid narrative of a vast majority, nearly a billion strong, being victimized by a much smaller minority. —Andrew Marantz, New Yorker, 28 Apr. 2025

But even the false report of relief appeared to snap the market out of its hysteria as stocks bounced back and forth until the closing bell. —Brett Samuels, The Hill, 7 Apr. 2025

Word History

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

First Known Use

1772, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for hysteria

• area
• ceria
• feria
• varia
• aquaria
• gregaria
• herbaria
• malaria
• puparia
• rancheria
• araucaria
• arenaria

Kids Definition

hysteria

noun

hys·​te·​ria his-ˈter-ē-ə  -ˈtir- 

1

: a nervous disorder marked by excitability of the emotions

2

: unmanageable fear or outburst of emotion

Medical Definition

hysteria

noun

hys·​te·​ria his-ˈter-ē-ə  -ˈtir- 

1

a

: a psychoneurosis marked by emotional excitability and disturbances of the psychic, sensory, vasomotor, and visceral functions without an organic basis

b

: a similar condition in domestic animals

2

: behavior exhibiting overwhelming or unmanageable fear or emotional excess