as in frenzy
a state of wildly excited activity or emotion
the hysteria of the mother when she realized that she had lost her four-year-old son in the crowd
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Recent Examples of hysteria
The intrigue: The reports of drones have sparked an Orson-Welles-reminiscent hysteria on social media, and the theories have been both far-ranging and, in some cases, far-fetched.
—
Avery Lotz, Axios, 19 Dec. 2024
This type of yellow press is pathetic, and the ongoing media hysteria around AI is an embarrassment to the field of journalism as a profession.
—Thomas Brewster, Forbes, 17 Dec. 2024
Beginning in 1964, union membership rates in Wisconsin would remain above the national average for 47 years, a complete reversal of its leading role in the previous decade’s anti-communist hysteria.
—Nancy C. Unger / Made By History, TIME, 28 Oct. 2024
Ellen is a more passive counterpart to Thomasin, the teenage heroine played by fellow big-eyed blonde Anya Taylor-Joy in The Witch, in that she’s also been pathologized by the strictures of her era, her psychic sensitivities interpreted by those around her as signs of hysteria or mental illness.
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 23 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for hysteria 
Avery Lotz, Axios, 19 Dec. 2024
This type of yellow press is pathetic, and the ongoing media hysteria around AI is an embarrassment to the field of journalism as a profession.
—Thomas Brewster, Forbes, 17 Dec. 2024
Beginning in 1964, union membership rates in Wisconsin would remain above the national average for 47 years, a complete reversal of its leading role in the previous decade’s anti-communist hysteria.
—Nancy C. Unger / Made By History, TIME, 28 Oct. 2024
Ellen is a more passive counterpart to Thomasin, the teenage heroine played by fellow big-eyed blonde Anya Taylor-Joy in The Witch, in that she’s also been pathologized by the strictures of her era, her psychic sensitivities interpreted by those around her as signs of hysteria or mental illness.
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 23 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for hysteria
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Cite this Entry
“Hysteria.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hysteria. Accessed 21 Jan. 2025.
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