Hyperarousal

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A state of heightened psychological and physiological tension resulting in reduced pain tolerance, anxiety, excessive response to sensory stimulation, insomnia, and fatigue. uncountable, usually

    "Hyperarousal after a traumatic experience is normal. It occurs when a person's brain believes that person is at risk again because it misreads an external signal or trigger."

Example

More examples

"Hyperarousal after a traumatic experience is normal. It occurs when a person's brain believes that person is at risk again because it misreads an external signal or trigger."

Etymology

From hyper- + arousal.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.