hysterical

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

• IPA^(key): /hɪ ˈstɛɹɪkəl/

hysterical (comparative more hysterical, superlative most hysterical)

1. Of, or arising from hysteria.
   • 1848', William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Chapter 16:

     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.
   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 2, in The Mirror and the Lamp‎:

     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.

   • 2016 February 6, James Zogby, “Israel’s prickliness blocks the long quest for peace”, in The National‎:

     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.

• Like many terms that start with a non-silent h but have emphasis on their second syllable, some people precede hysterical with an, others with a.

• hysteric
• hysterics
• hysteria

• hysterical in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• hysterical at OneLook Dictionary Search