arachnophobia
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of arachnophobia
First recorded in 1925–30; from Greek aráchn(ē) “spider” + -o- ( def. ) + -phobia
Explanation
If you suffer from arachnophobia, you have a paralyzing fear of spiders. Your arachnophobia might make you too terrified to venture into basements, attics, and barns — or to read "Charlotte's Web." The vast majority of people are at least a little leery of eight-legged creatures, but someone with a true case of arachnophobia will often suffer a panic attack if he sees — or even think about seeing — a spider. The word arachnophobia comes from two roots, arachnid, "spider," from the Greek arakhne, "spider or spider's web," and phobia, "fear," from the Greek phobos.
Vocabulary lists containing arachnophobia
Phobia Fever
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Never Fear: Phobia, Phobic
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UCPS 6th Grade Roots List #12
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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.
Arachnophobia can make humans flee at the sight of a brown recluse, black widow or even a daddy long legs, but animal predators of spiders know no such fear.
From Science Daily • Mar. 22, 2024
He then took projects that piqued his interest alongside those that paid his rent, portraying romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley in director Ken Russell's Gothic, and appearing in spider-filled thriller Arachnophobia and supernatural horror Warlock.
From BBC • Jun. 27, 2023
Other film credits include supporting roles in "The Killing Fields," "Arachnophobia" and "Leaving Las Vegas."
From Reuters • Jan. 19, 2023
The one respectable exception was Arachnophobia, a genuinely terrifying effort that sadistic TV schedulers would regularly drop in before the watershed when I was a child.
From The Guardian • Oct. 31, 2019
Later I could not help myself – just had to watch Eight Legged Freaks and Arachnophobia.
From Scientific American • Oct. 15, 2012
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.
