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counterphobic

American  
[koun-ter-foh-bik] / ˌkaʊn tərˈfoʊ bɪk /

adjective

Psychiatry.

  1. seeking out a situation that one fears in an attempt to overcome the fear.

Etymology

Origin of counterphobic

counter- + -phobic

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.

“And I started screaming. My brother put me to bed. You could say the rest of my life has been a counterphobic reaction to the fear I felt seeing that episode.”

From New York Times

To undercut the hurt, I tried counterphobic humor.

From Salon

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.