Hysteria
[hɪ'stɪərɪə] or [hɪ'stɪrɪə]
Definition
(noun.) excessive or uncontrollable fear.
(noun.) neurotic disorder characterized by violent emotional outbreaks and disturbances of sensory and motor functions.
Checked by Candy--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A nervous affection, occurring almost exclusively in women, in which the emotional and reflex excitability is exaggerated, and the will power correspondingly diminished, so that the patient loses control over the emotions, becomes the victim of imaginary sensations, and often falls into paroxism or fits.
Editor: Quentin
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. (Med.) Hysterics.
Typed by Eliza
Examples
- I mastered the rising hysteria, lifted up my head, and took a firm stand on the stool. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- Tempered by late incidents, my nerves disdained hysteria. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- History can be all things to all men: nothing is easier than to summon the Terror, the Commune, lynchings in the Southern States, as witnesses to the excesses and hysterias of the mob. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- The situation might be compared to those hysterias in which a suppressed impulse flares up and rules the whole mental life. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
Checked by Aurora