n.
Pronunciation: his- ' ter- ē - ə , - ' tir-
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 \ - ' ter-ik \ noun
– hys · ter · i · cal \ - ' ter-i-k ə l \ also hysteric adjective
– hys · ter · i · cal · ly \ -i-k( ə -)l ē \ adverb