Link Centre Dictionary

phobia

pho·bia

UK/ˈfəʊ.bi.ə/ US/ˈfoʊ.bi.ə/ uncommon

noun

1.

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

Origin

First attested in c. 1790, from words ending in -phobia, ultimately from Ancient Greek φόβος (phóbos, “fear”). Compare ism, from -ism, itis, from -itis, and ana, from -ana.

Phrases

  • social phobia
  • specific phobia

Related words

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.