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Hysterical
//hɪˈstɛɹɪkəl// adj
Definitions
Adjective
- 1 Of, or arising from hysteria.
"Henrietta gasped for breath; but she swallowed down the hysterical emotion, and signed with her hand for Walter to go on."
- 2 Having, or prone to having hysterics.
- 3 Provoking uncontrollable laughter.
"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."
Adjective
- 1 marked by excessive or uncontrollable emotion wordnet
- 2 characterized by or arising from psychoneurotic hysteria wordnet
Etymology
From hysteric + -al, from Latin hystericus, from Ancient Greek ὑστερικός (husterikós, “suffering in the womb, hysterical”), from ῠ̔στέρᾱ (hŭstérā, “womb”).
See also for "hysterical"
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