Meanings
comparative more hysteric · superlative most hysteric · alternative obsolete hysterick
- medicineHysterical; relating to hysteria.
We also find gamblers of this type among some frigid hysteric women, who seem to treat gambling as they treat men, coldly and spongingly.
1969, Edmund Bergler, Selected Papers of Edmund Bergler, 1933-1961, page 6971 more example
Yes, my dravving-room is an abſolute regiſter-office for candidate actors, and poets vvithout character;—then to be continually alarmed vvith Miſſes and Ma'ams piping hiſteric changes on Juliets and Dorindas, Pollys and Ophelias; […]
1781, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The Critic: Or A Tragedy Rehearsed […], London: […] T[homas] Becket, […], →OCLC, Act I, scene i, pages 4–5
plural hysterics · alternative obsolete hysterick
- A hysterical person.
“Which girl was it now?” he asks a second time. ¶ “Oh, you know, the hysteric,” Eleanor says, “the one who was parading her bazooms in your face.”
1956, Norman Mailer, The Man Who Studied Yoga
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivecharacterized by or arising from psychoneurotic hysteria
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Ancient Greekὑστερικός“suffering in the uterus, hysterical”
- Latinhystericus
- Englishhysteric
From Latin hystericus, from Ancient Greek ὑστερικός (husterikós, “suffering in the uterus, hysterical”), from ὑστέρα (hustéra, “womb”).
More words from Latin, Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with hysteric
Anagrams
Cite this entry
hysteric. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hysteric
“hysteric.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hysteric. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hysteric,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hysteric.
Source: hysteric on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.