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panic

pa·nic

UK/ˈpænɪk/ US/ˈpʰænɪk/ common us
noun (2) verb (2)

noun

1.

an overwhelming feeling of fear and anxiety

Synonyms
2.

sudden mass fear and anxiety over anticipated events

  • “panic in the stock market”
  • “a war scare”
  • “a bomb scare led them to evacuate the building”
Synonyms

verb

1.

be overcome by a sudden fear

  • “The students panicked when told that final exams were less than a week away”
2.

cause sudden fear in or fill with sudden panic

  • “The mere thought of an isolation cell panicked the prisoners”

Origin

The adjective is borrowed from Middle French panique, a word itself borrowed from Ancient Greek πανικός (panikós, “pertaining to Pan”); Pan, the Greek god of fields and woods, was believed to be the source of mysterious sounds that caused contagious, groundless fear in herds and crowds, or in people in lonely spots. Adjective sense 3 (“pertaining to or resulting from overpowering fear or fright”) is partly an attributive use of the noun. The noun is derived from the adjective, while the verb is derived from the noun. Verb sense 1.3 (“to highly amuse, entertain, or impress (an audience watching a performance or show”) is derived from noun sense 4 (“a highly amusing or entertaining performer, performance, or show”).

Phrases

  • gay panic
  • gay panic defense
  • hairy panic
  • homosexual panic defense
  • kernel panic
  • moral panic
  • panic attack
  • panic bar
  • panic button
  • panic buying
  • panic grass
  • panic selling

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.