hysterical

a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.

a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

hysterical or hysteric (hɪˈstɛrɪk^əl)

—*adj*
1.	of or suggesting hysteria: hysterical cries
2.	suffering from hysteria
3.	informal wildly funny

hysteric or hysteric

—*adj*

hys'terically or hysteric

—*adv*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

hysterical

1610s, from L. hystericus "of the womb," from Gk. hysterikos "of the womb, suffering in the womb," from hystera "womb" (see uterus). Originally defined as a neurotic condition peculiar to women and thought to be caused by a dysfunction of the uterus. Meaning "very funny"

(by 1939) is from the notion of uncontrollable fits of laughter.

Example sentences

No gunshots, no victims writhing in pain, no hysterical witnesses.

Angry, almost hysterical, editorials filled the pages of other dive magazines.

While the incident is both hysterical and sort of pathetic, it happens more

often than you might think.

People will become hysterical about it as the day draws closer.

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historical panic swoon

Matching Quote

"I wasn't born to be a fighter. I was born with a gentle nature, a flexible character and an organism as equilibrated as it is judged hysterical. I shouldn't have been forced to fight constantly and ferociously. The causes I have fought for have invariably been causes that should have been gained by a delicate suggestion. Since they never were, I made myself into a fighter."

-Margaret Anderson