HYSTERIA

hysteria

(noun) excessive or uncontrollable fear

craze, delirium, frenzy, fury, hysteria

(noun) state of violent mental agitation

hysteria, hysterical neurosis

(noun) neurotic disorder characterized by violent emotional outbreaks and disturbances of sensory and motor functions

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology

Noun

hysteria (usually uncountable, plural hysterias or hysteriae or hysteriæ)

Behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion, such as fear or panic.

(medicine) A mental disorder characterized by emotional excitability etc. without an organic cause.

(informal, pathology) synonym of conversion disorder

(obsolete, pathology, until early 20th century) Any disorder of women with some psychiatric symptoms without other diagnosis, ascribed to uterine influences on the female body, lack of pregnancy, or lack of sex.

Synonyms

• (mental disorder): female hysteria

• (obsolete female disorder): uterine melancholy

Anagrams

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Source: Wiktionary

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Hys*te"ri*a, n. Etym: [NL.: cf. F. hystérie. See Hysteric.] (Med.)

Definition: 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.

Note: The chief symptoms are convulsive, tossing movements of the limbs and head, uncontrollable crying and laughing, and a choking sensation as if a ball were lodged in the throat. The affection presents the most varied symptoms, often simulating those of the gravest diseases, but generally curable by mental treatment alone.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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