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 of hysteria

• frenzy
• rampage

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

Your mother’s people, her father had told her ominously, on more than one occasion, are prone to hysteria. —Lizz Schumer, PEOPLE, 8 Dec. 2025

The hysteria about a superior race, the insistence that all would be well if one insidious group was purged—those doctrines had been entirely defeated. —Joan Silber, New Yorker, 30 Nov. 2025

The former slingshots between harmony and hysteria; the latter petrifies its beauty under a haze of ashy gray powder. —Jazz Monroe, Pitchfork, 28 Nov. 2025

In some cases, the potential threat is real while others, like a 2024 UFO panic in New Jersey, are rooted more in popular hysteria. —Jeff John Roberts, Fortune, 18 Nov. 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