Hysterical Meaning
/hɪˈstɛɹɪkəl/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjOf, or arising from hysteria.
adjHaving, or prone to having hysterics.
Sentence Examples
I get hysterical easily.
She is a hysterical woman.
Ziri told Rima that she was being hysterical.
CEFR Practice Quiz
When she heard the terrible news, she became completely ____ and could not stop crying.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The audience burst into ____ laughter at the comedian's incredibly funny and relatable jokes.
Word Origin & History
From hysteric + -al, from Latin hystericus, from Ancient Greek ὑστερικός (husterikós, “suffering in the womb, hysterical”), from ῠ̔στέρᾱ (hŭstérā, “womb”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Henrietta gasped for breath; but she swallowed down the hysterical emotion, and signed with her hand for Walter to go on."
— 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:
"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."
— 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 16, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →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."
— 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter II, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
"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."
— 2016 February 6, James Zogby, “Israel’s prickliness blocks the long quest for peace”, in The National:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
When she heard the terrible news, she became completely ____ and could not stop crying.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The audience burst into ____ laughter at the comedian's incredibly funny and relatable jokes.