hysterical

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
18
Words With Friends
18
Letters
10
Pronunciation
/hɪˈstɛɹɪkəl/

Definition of hysterical

3 senses · 1 part of speech · etymology included

adj

  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.”
    “An event of this nature, a marriage, or a refusal, or a proposal, thrills through a whole household of women, and sets all their hysterical sympathies at work.”
See all 3 definitions

adj

  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.”
    “An event of this nature, a marriage, or a refusal, or a proposal, thrills through a whole household of women, and sets all their hysterical sympathies at work.”
  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.”
    “There is a certain irony in all of this because in their hysterical use of charge of “double standard” – that Israel is being “singled out for criticism”– it is Israel’s supporters who are themselves guilty of a “double standard”, since, if they were to have their way, it is Israel that would be singled out as the only country that cannot be criticised.”

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

From hysteric + -al, from Latin hystericus, from Ancient Greek ὑστερικός (husterikós, “suffering in the womb, hysterical”), from ῠ̔στέρᾱ (hŭstérā, “womb”).

Words you can make from hysterical

200+ playable · top: STARCHILY (17 pts)

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9-letter words

1 word

8-letter words

23 words

7-letter words

90 words

6-letter words

85 words

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