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mood swing

mood swing

40 3.9
A sudden change from one emotion to another without warning
  • noun
  • /muːd swɪŋ/
translation icon : cambio de humor
  • Sleep deprivation can cause serious mood swings and affect social skills as well.
  • rapid mood swings
  • mood swings and memory problems

But Audrey doesn't judge my anxious mood swings.

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Examples

  • Women often with postpartum depression experience things like these extreme mood swings back and forth.

  • Well, it says here that women in their third trimester experience hormonal mood swings, and their partners just have to be extra understanding about it.

  • You will often see wide mood swings, usually because of all the changes in relationships and things like that.

  • So the solution to all those mood swings is just to stop feeling sorry for yourself.

    Blog text (7)
  • Roger began to have more mood swings and seemed to take everything out on Sarah.

    Blog text (20)
  • Ms. Owen knew April had problems with mood swings, withdrawal, and fits of anger.

    Academic text (1997)
  • Rose Watson had been diagnosed as schizophrenic decades ago, and although on daily medication, her mood swings were fierce and unpredictable.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • Their untreated concussions often leave them with constant headaches, memory problems, mood swings, and other issues.

    Academic text (2011)
  • Suzanne, we've talked about these hormone-induced mood swings you've been having.

  • After the argument, he experienced sudden mood swings, feeling happy one moment and angry the next.

Synonyms

flare
vsmood swing
5 5.3

A sudden strong feeling such as anger or excitement

is a sudden change between emotional states rather than a single burst
flurry of emotions
vsmood swing
5.0

A sudden short time when many strong feelings happen at once

is a rapid shift from one state to another not simultaneous feelings

Antonyms

363 3.1

Being steady and not likely to change

9 2.7

A state without strong feelings or worry in your mind

How Dramatic

emotional disturbance
  • Specialized
1 7.4
mood swing
40 3.9
mood
529 1.0

Surface Forms

mood swing singular
mood swings plural

Morphology

mood + swing

The meaning 'a sudden or dramatic change in a person's emotional state' is directly and predictably built from 'mood' (emotional state) plus 'swing' (a movement or shift), so a learner who knows both words can infer the compound meaning. This compositional pattern is common cross-linguistically (e.g. Spanish 'cambio de humor', French 'sautes d'humeur') and follows ordinary noun + noun/verb-to-noun conversion, making it readily understandable at B1.

Etymology

Mood swing may come from the picture of a playground swing that moves quickly from one side to the other, like a person's mood changing from happy to sad. So, it means 'a sudden change in a person's emotions'.