noun

• 1Exaggerated or uncontrollable emotion or excitement.

  ‘mass hysteria erupts as the people crowd in to view the race’

  More example sentences

  • ‘it was a scene of absolute hysteria’
  • ‘there was all sorts of hysteria about various Wi-Fi issues’
  • ‘Various people are drunk or act strangely or approach mini entertaining hysterias - like whirlpools in cups of tea they pass quickly.’
  • ‘The world cannot tolerate these old claims, most times based on sheer hysteria and emotion.’
  • ‘The whole history of the US, indeed, is punctuated with scares, crazes and occasional mass hysteria.’
  • ‘The media is trying to develop mass hysteria to support the war drive.’
  • ‘The medicated result is a toxic level of mass hysteria for the patient, or in this case, the news subscriber.’
  • ‘Did you never wonder what these sudden waves of mass hysteria were about?’
  • ‘This invoked a further outbreak of mass hysteria amongst the fleet.’
  • ‘The mass hysteria that it created, however, particularly at the funeral, worried me immensely.’
  • ‘Whenever two people from the same side of politics differ there's mass hysteria.’
  • ‘Am I remorseful that it got out of hand and escalated into mass hysteria?’
  • ‘Many people thought they knew the end of the world was nigh, but were lying to prevent mass hysteria.’
  • ‘When Diana died, the country was in a state of something close to mass hysteria.’
  • ‘Perhaps it is too hot, or Madrilenos are just no good at building up mass hysteria.’
  • ‘Plus it played on a big fear of mine for the end of the first third, namely mob rule and mass hysteria.’
  • ‘Tautou also does enough to suggest that beneath her happiness lies hysteria and an emotional volatility.’
  • ‘The mass hysteria by the zealots does not bode well for India or Hinduism.’
  • ‘Several researchers have noted that episodes of mass hysteria are probably far more common than we currently think.’
  • ‘Another expert suggested that the resulting chaos of an attack would be worsened by mass hysteria.’
  • ‘I have a tendency to put these things in the class of mass hysteria.’
  • ‘If aliens were found, would it not be kept quiet due to the potential mass hysteria?’

  Synonyms

  frenzy, wildness, feverishness, irrationality

  View synonyms
• 2An old-fashioned term for a disorder characterized by neurological symptoms often accompanied by exaggeratedly or inappropriately emotional behaviour, originally attributed to disease or injury of the nervous system and later thought to be functional or psychological in origin.

  ‘They never talk about a disorder called hysteria, they talk about the womb wandering.’

  More example sentences

  • ‘Freud learned from Charcot that, in order to understand hysteria, he had to look to psychology rather than to neurology.’
  • ‘When these types break down they tend to develop either hysteria or mania.’
  • ‘Shock often manifests itself as conversion hysteria, where the mind causes the body to be incapacitated.’
  • ‘Great to have your company today, where we're looking at contemporary cases of hysteria.’