acrophobia
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of acrophobia
Explanation
Want to go to the top of the Empire State Building? You must not have acrophobia. Someone who is terrified of heights will just wait for you in the gift shop — which is on the ground floor. You can see the word phobia, or extreme fear, in acrophobia. Acro comes from the Greek word akron, which means "summit" or "high point." When you put it all together, you have a word that means "fear of heights." Whoever named Akron, Ohio, must have studied Greek; it is located on a plateau in Summit County.
Vocabulary lists containing acrophobia
Phobia Fever
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Never Fear: Phobia, Phobic
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Projekt 1065
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Acrophobia set in at about 1:45 p.m., when sell orders began flitting through the exchange's super-DOT computer circuits in bunches of 1,000 to 2,000 shares each.
From Time Magazine Archive
Acrophobia has its drawbacks: he does not visit foreign cities, or even many domestic ones.
From Time Magazine Archive
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
