Meanings
plural conniptions
- informalA fit of anger or panic; conniption fit.
When she came downstairs and saw what her children were eating, she had a conniption.
4 more examples
I'm in conniptions for the final act you came here for
2001, “My Plague”, in Iowa, performed by Slipknot[…]threatened by the conniptions gripping Wall Street
2008 October 20, BusinessweekMARC JACOBS is the Michael Bloomberg of the West Village and also its Sam Walton. Jane Jacobs would have loved him, if she wasn’t overcome by conniptions at his oozing influence over her beloved neighborhood streets.
2010 November 10, John Caramanica, “Monopoly by Marc Jacobs”, in The New York TimesThe Dodgers tried late to make a push for him last winter, with their splashy offseason already over the billion-dollar mark. They expressed interest in him over the trade deadline, even if prying him from the San Francisco Giants would have caused a conniption for fans of the historic rivals.
2024 November 27, Rabian Ardaya, “For the Dodgers, signing Blake Snell always made the most sense”, in The New York TimesSynonyms: tantrum, tantrum, catfit, conniption fit, dummy spit, headfit, hissy, hissy fit
- A fit of laughing; convulsion.
The joke was not that funny, but he went into conniptions laughing.
Synonyms: the giggles
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA fit of anger or panic; conniption fit.
nounA fit of laughing; convulsion.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Since 1833, from American English. Unknown origin, possibly a fanciful alteration of corruption, or maybe related to captious. Alternatively an arbitrary pseudo-Latinism coinage.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian истерия
- истерия (isterija)fit of anger or panic
Czech záchvat
- záchvatfit of anger or panic
Dutch woedeuitbarsting
- woedeuitbarstingfit of anger or panic
Finnish kohtaus
- kohtausfit of anger or panic
French crise de colère, crise de panique
- crise de colèrefit of anger or panic
- crise de paniquefit of anger or panic
German Anfall, hysterischer Anfall
- Anfallfit of anger or panic
- hysterischer Anfallfit of anger or panic
- Wutanfallfit of anger or panic
- Panikattackefit of anger or panic
Hungarian dühroham
- dührohamfit of anger or panic
Norwegian Bokmål fnatt, raserianfall
- fnattfit of anger or panic
- raserianfallfit of anger or panic
- panikkangstfit of anger or panic
- hysterisk anfallfit of anger or panic
Polish napad furii
- napad furiifit of anger or panic
Russian припа́док истерии, исте́рика
- припа́док истерии (pripádok isterii)fit of anger or panic
- исте́рика (istérika)fit of anger or panic
- при́ступ гнева (prístup gneva)fit of anger or panic
Spanish ataque de rabia; rabieta
- ataque de rabia; rabietafit of anger or panic
Swedish damp, dille
- dampfit of anger or panic
- dillefit of anger or panic
- fnattfit of anger or panic
- tuppjuckfit of anger or panic
- frispelfit of anger or panic
Cite this entry
conniption. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/conniption
“conniption.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/conniption. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “conniption,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/conniption.
Source: conniption on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.