hysterica passio

hysterica passio noun: a panic attack as a manifestation of hysteria.

Noun

hysterica passio

(obsolete) A panic attack as a manifestation of hysteria.
- Maynie had a spice of the Hysterica passio, as seems from his youth hee himselfe termes it the Moother, and saith that hee was much troubled with it in Fraunce, and that it was one of the causes that mooved him to leave his holy order whereinto he was initiated, and to returne into England.1586, Samuel Harsnett, Declaration of Popish Impostures, page 25
- This disease is called by diverse names amongst our Authors. Passio Hysterica, Suffocatio, Prascocatia, and Strangulatus uteri, Caducus matricis, etc. In English the Mother or the Suffocation of the Mother, because most commonly it takes them with choaking in the throat: and it is an affect of the...1603, Edward Jorden, A Briefe Discourse of a Disease called the Suffocation of the Mother, pages 5–6

Hysterica passio, down, thou climbing sorrow, Thy element's below!1606, William Shakespeare, King Lear:
And because he was proud and quick-tempered, because he loved the fight but found himself outflanked, years of anger swelled into a rage that set him contending with attacks of hysterica passio.1989, Terrence Des Pres, Praises & Dispraises: Poetry and Politics, the 20th Century, →ISBN, page 74:

What does hysterica passio mean?: Hysterica passio means a panic attack as a manifestation of hysteria.
How do you use hysterica passio in a sentence?: Hysterica passio, down, thou climbing sorrow, Thy element's below!
What part of speech is hysterica passio?: Hysterica passio is a noun.

Adapted from Wiktionary: hysterica passio (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “hysterica passio.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hysterica_passio. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.