noun · 7 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
Received-Pronunciation:/hɪˈstɪəɹiə/
General-American:/hɪˈstɛɹiə/
General-American:/hɪˈstɪɹiə/
US:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
rhymes with -ɪəɹiə
CMU ARPABET:HH IH0 S T EH1 R IY0 AH0
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
Behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotions, in a wide range from joy to panic but usually including anxiety or fear.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable, usually
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
A mental disorder characterized by emotional excitability etc. without an organic cause.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable, usually
Qualifier: nosologically dated
Topics: medicine, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
Synonym of conversion disorder.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: conversion disorder
Antonyms: none provided
4
noun
Meaning 4
Any disorder of women with some psychiatric symptoms without other diagnosis, ascribed to uterine influences on the female body, lack of pregnancy, or lack of sex.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
From New Latin hysteria, a back-formation from Latin hystericus, from Ancient Greek ὑστερικός (husterikós, “suffering in the uterus, hysterical”), from ὑστέρα (hustéra, “womb”). Compare French hystérie.
Across languages
Translations
83 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Albanian:
histeria
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Albanian:
histeri
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Arabic:
هِسْتِيرْيَا
(histīryā)
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Armenian:
հիստերիա
(histeria)
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Asturian:
histeria
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Azerbaijani:
isteriya
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Basque:
histeria
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Belarusian:
істэры́я
(isterýja)
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Belarusian:
гістэры́я
(histerýja)
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Bengali:
হিস্টেরিয়া
(hisṭeriẏa)
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Bulgarian:
исте́рия
(istérija)
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Bulgarian:
хисте́рия
(histérija)
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Catalan:
histèria
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Chinese Mandarin:
歇斯底里
(xiēsīdǐlǐ)
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Czech:
hysterie
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Danish:
hysteri
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Dhivehi:
ހިސްޓީރިޔާ
(hisṭīriyā)
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Esperanto:
histerio
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Estonian:
hüsteeria
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Finnish:
hysteria
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
French:
hystérie
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Georgian:
ისტერია
(isṭeria)
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
German:
Hysterie
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Greek:
υστερία
(ystería)
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Hebrew:
הִיסְטֶרְיָה
(histérya)
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Hindi:
हिस्टीरिया
(hisṭīriyā)
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Hungarian:
hisztéria
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Icelandic:
sefasýki
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Ido:
histerio
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Indonesian:
histeria
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Irish:
histéire
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Italian:
isteria
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Japanese:
ヒステリー
(hisuterī)
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Kazakh:
истерия
(isteriä)
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Korean:
히스테리
(hiseuteri)
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Northern Kurdish:
hîsterî
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Kyrgyz:
истерия
(isteriya)
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Latvian:
histērija
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Lithuanian:
isterija
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Macedonian:
хистерија
(histerija)
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Malay:
histeria
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Māori:
mate wairangi
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Nepali:
हिस्टेरिया
(hisṭeriyā)
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Norman:
maladie malinne
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Norwegian Bokmål:
hysteri
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Norwegian Nynorsk:
hysteri
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Occitan:
isteria
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Papiamentu:
histeria
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Persian:
هیستری
(histeri)
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Polish:
histeria
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Portuguese:
histeria
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Romanian:
isterie
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Russian:
истери́я
(isteríja)
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Serbo-Croatian:
хистѐрија
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Serbo-Croatian:
histèrija
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Sinhalese:
කෝලසන්නිය
(kōlasanniya)
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Sinhalese:
හිස්ටීරියාව
(hisṭīriyāwa)
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Slovak:
hystéria
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Slovene:
histerija
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Spanish:
histeria
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Swedish:
hysteri
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Tagalog:
histerya
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Tajik:
истерия
(isteriya)
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Thai:
ฮิสทีเรีย
(hís-tii-riia)
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Turkish:
histeri
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Turkish:
isteri
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Turkmen:
isteriýa
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Ukrainian:
істері́я
(isteríja)
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Ukrainian:
гістері́я
(histeríja)
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Uzbek:
isteriya
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Uzbek:
истерия
(isteriya)
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Vietnamese:
ittêri
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Vietnamese:
ictêri
— behavior exhibiting excessive or uncontrollable emotion
Bulgarian:
исте́рия
(istérija)
— medical disorder
Catalan:
histèria
— medical disorder
Chinese Mandarin:
癔病
(yìbìng)
— medical disorder
Finnish:
hysteria
— medical disorder
Norman:
maladie malinne
— medical disorder
Russian:
истери́я
(isteríja)
— medical disorder
Sinhalese:
මායා රෝගය
(māyā rōgaya)
— medical disorder
