English

Adjective

hysterical ‎(comparative more hysterical, superlative most hysterical)

1. Of, or arising from hysteria.
2. Having, or prone to having hysterics.
3. Provoking uncontrollable laughter.
   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 2, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     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:

     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

• 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.

Related terms

• hysteric
• hysterics
• hysteria

Translations