All 3 Uses of
hysteria
in
An American Tragedy
- And there she penned a note—hurried, hysterical—a scrawl.†
Chpt 2 *hysterical = exceedingly funny (resulting in uncontrollable laughter); or exhibiting excessive, uncontrollable emotion
- And because of that, Roberta being in the darkest and most hysterical mood and thought, sat down on Saturday afternoon and, half-convinced as she was that he might already have departed for some distant point without any word to her, almost shrieked or screamed, if one were to properly characterize the mood that animated the following: Biltz, Saturday, June 14th.†
Chpt 2
- One Italian, sentenced for the murder of a bank watchman, became hysterical, screamed, dashed the chair and table of his cell against the bars of his door, tore the sheets of his bed to shreds and even sought to strangle himself before eventually he was overpowered and removed to a cell in a different part of the building to be observed as to his sanity.†
Chpt 3
Definition:
a state of excessive, uncontrollable emotion
In addition to being the adjective form of hysteria, the form hysterical can also indicate that something is exceedingly funny (leading to uncontrollable laughter)