hysterical
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From hysteric + -al, from Latin hystericus, from Ancient Greek ὑστερικός (husterikós, “suffering in the womb, hysterical”), from ῠ̔στέρᾱ (hustérā, “womb”).
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
hysterical (comparative more hysterical, superlative most hysterical)
- Of, or arising from hysteria.
- 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Letters Restored”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 221:
- Henrietta gasped for breath; but she swallowed down the hysterical emotion, and signed with her hand for Walter to go on.
- 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 16, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:
- An event of this nature, a marriage, or a refusal, or a proposal, thrills through a whole household of women, and sets all their hysterical sympathies at work.
- Having, or prone to having hysterics.
- Provoking uncontrollable laughter.
- 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter II, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
- She was a fat, round little woman, richly apparelled in velvet and lace, […] ; and the way she laughed, cackling like a hen, the way she talked to the waiters and the maid, […]—all these unexpected phenomena impelled one to hysterical mirth, and made one class her with such immortally ludicrous types as Ally Sloper, the Widow Twankey, or Miss Moucher.
- 2016 February 6, James Zogby, “Israel’s prickliness blocks the long quest for peace”, in The National[1]:
- There is a certain irony in all of this because in their hysterical use of charge of “double standard” – that Israel is being “singled out for criticism”– it is Israel’s supporters who are themselves guilty of a “double standard”, since, if they were to have their way, it is Israel that would be singled out as the only country that cannot be criticised.
Usage notes[edit]
- For usage caution, see hysteria § Usage notes.
- Like many terms that start with a non-silent h but have emphasis on their second syllable, some people precede hysterical with an, others with a.
Derived terms[edit]
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
arising from hysteria
|
prone to having hysterics
|
provoking laughter
|
Further reading[edit]
- “hysterical”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “hysterical”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
Categories:
- English terms suffixed with -al
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Ancient Greek
- English 4-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɛɹɪkəl
- Rhymes:English/ɛɹɪkəl/4 syllables
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English terms with quotations
- en:Emotions