phobia
Other forms: phobias
A phobia is an intense and irrational fear of something. If seeing a spider makes you scream and jump on top of a table, then you might suffer from a phobia.
The thing to remember about phobia is that it describes an irrational fear. If you’re afraid of a black widow spider, for example, that’s not a phobia — it’s just smart, because the spider is poisonous. If you’re afraid of all spiders, however, and the sight of a harmless daddy long legs spider has you shaking in terror, then you may have a phobia. In this case, it's a phobia because your reaction is irrational.
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an anxiety disorder characterized by extreme and irrational fear of simple things or social situations“phobic disorder is a general term for all phobias”synonyms: phobic disorder, phobic neurosistypes:agoraphobiaa morbid fear of open spaces (as fear of being caught alone in some public place)simple phobiaany phobia (other than agoraphobia) associated with relatively simple well-defined stimulisocial phobiaany phobia (other than agoraphobia) associated with situations in which you are subject to criticism by others (as fear of eating in public or public speaking etc)androphobiaa morbid fear of mengynophobiaa morbid fear of womenacrophobiaa morbid fear of great heightsalgophobiaa morbid fear of painaquaphobiaa morbid fear of drowningastraphobiaa morbid fear of thunder and lightningautomysophobiaa morbid fear of being dirtyclaustrophobiaa morbid fear of being closed in a confined spacecryophobiaa morbid fear of freezingcyberphobiairrational fear of computers or technologyhydrophobiaa morbid fear of waterhypnophobiaa morbid fear of falling asleepmysophobiaa morbid fear of dirt or contaminationneophobiaa morbid fear of noveltynyctophobiaa morbid fear of night or darknessphobophobiaa morbid fear of developing a phobiaphotophobiaa morbid fear of lightpyrophobiaa morbid fear of firetaphephobiaa morbid fear of being buried alivethanatophobiaa morbid fear of deathtriskaidekaphobiaa morbid fear of the number 13zoophobiaa morbid fear of animalssatanophobiaan abnormal fear of Satanschool phobiaa child's sudden fear of attending schooltraumatophobiaa morbid fear of battle or physical injuryxenophobiaa fear of foreigners or strangerstype of:anxiety disordera cover term for a variety of mental disorders in which severe anxiety is a salient symptom
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Vocabulary lists containing phobia
If you suffer from triskaidekaphobia (fear of the number 13), you may want to stop reading now. Different cultures have considered Friday and the number 13 unlucky for thousands of years. Even today, some believe that the combination of the two is an especially jinxed event. The words on this list all relate to superstition, belief, luck, and unexplained phenomena.
Learn these words derived from the Greek (and Latin) word-forming element -phobia, meaning "extreme fear or terror."