hydrophobia
Americannoun
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an extreme dread or fear of water, especially when associated with painful involuntary throat spasms from a rabies infection.
noun
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another name for rabies
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a fear of drinking fluids, esp that of a person with rabies, because of painful spasms when trying to swallow Compare aquaphobia
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Abnormal fear of water.
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Rabies.
Word History
Hydrophobia is an older term for the disease rabies, and it means “fear of water.” Because of this name, many people think that rabies makes one afraid of water. In fact, this is not the case (although rabies does cause mental confusion of other kinds). The name hydrophobia comes from the fact that animals and people with rabies get spasms in their throat muscles that are so painful that they cannot eat or drink, and so will refuse water in spite of being very thirsty.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of hydrophobia
First recorded in 1540–50; from Late Latin, from Greek hydrophobía; see origin at hydro- 1, -phobia
Explanation
Foaming at the mouth? Terrified of drinking water? You're displaying all the signs of hydrophobia, a common symptom of rabies. Unfortunately by this point you're probably beyond curing. Or reading online definitions. Take hydro (meaning "water") and phobia (meaning "fear") and you have hydrophobia — a fear of water. This could be a purely psychological issue that started in the lake at summer camp, or it could be physically motivated by disease — such as rabies.
Vocabulary lists containing hydrophobia
Elements of the Universe: Hydr, Hydro ("Water")
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "H"
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Never Fear: Phobia, Phobic
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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.
Infectious diseases expert Katharine Cartwright, from Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, previously told the inquest how this was a manifestation of hydrophobia - the fear of water - which is a symptom found only with rabies.
From BBC ● Mar. 4, 2026
The dog or monkey or raccoon infected with rabies becomes wildly thirsty — yet at the same time also suffers from hydrophobia.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 3, 2023
One central symptom of the disease is hydrophobia, a fear of water.
From Salon ● Oct. 25, 2021
Joining anxieties such as claustrophobia and hydrophobia, xenophobia appeared in medical dictionaries of the time as “the morbid dread of meeting strangers.”
From Washington Post ● Oct. 21, 2021
People in the Cherokee hills were so scared of hydrophobia they didn’t talk about it in loud voices.
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
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.
