Meanings
- uncountablehuman sciencesThe sociopsychological phenomenon in which a large group of people exhibit the same or similar hysterical symptoms simultaneously.
However, these make no mention of mass hysteria or give any suggestion that hysteria may affect multiple individuals at one time in a special situation.
1974 December, Lewis D. Polk, “Mass Hysteria in an Elementary School”, in Clinical Pediatrics, volume 13, number 12, →DOI, page 10131 more example
The new mass hysteria is known as the Pyramid Club and began—like so many other strange and wonderful notions—somewhere under the balmy skies of California.
1949 March 7, “Pyramid Club Craze Sweeps Nation”, in LIFE, volume 26, number 10, →ISSN, page 27
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna condition in which a large group of people exhibit the same state of violent mental agitation
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Finnish joukkohysteria
- joukkohysteriasociopsychological phenomenon
Hungarian tömeghisztéria
- tömeghisztériasociopsychological phenomenon
Spanish histeria colectiva
- histeria colectivasociopsychological phenomenon
Swedish masspsykos, masshysteri
- masspsykossociopsychological phenomenon
- masshysterisociopsychological phenomenon
Thai อุปาทานหมู่
- อุปาทานหมู่sociopsychological phenomenon
Cite this entry
mass hysteria. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mass%20hysteria
“mass hysteria.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mass%20hysteria. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “mass hysteria,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mass%20hysteria.
Source: mass hysteria on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.