incubus

American  

[in-kyuh-buhs, ing-] / ˈɪn kjə bəs, ˈɪŋ- /

noun

• incubi,
  plural
• incubuses
  plural

1. an imaginary demon or evil spirit supposed to descend upon sleeping persons, especially one fabled to have sexual intercourse with women during their sleep.

2. a nightmare.

3. something that weighs upon or oppresses one like a nightmare.

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incubus British  

/ ˈɪnkjʊbəs /

noun

1. a demon believed in folklore to lie upon sleeping persons, esp to have sexual intercourse with sleeping women Compare succubus

2. something that oppresses, worries, or disturbs greatly, esp a nightmare or obsession

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• incubi
  plural
• incubuses
  plural

Etymology

Origin of incubus

1175–1225; Middle English < Late Latin: a nightmare induced by such a demon, noun derivative of Latin incubāre to lie upon; see incubate

Compare meaning

How does incubus compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• succubus vs. incubus

Explanation

An incubus is a scary mythological character that visits people in their sleep, a kind of nightmare demon. If you dream that an incubus is weighing you down as you snooze, you'll probably wake in a panic. Incubus comes from the Latin incubo, "nightmare, one who lies down on (the sleeper)," which perfectly describes the legendary evil spirit that crushes sleepers, triggering terrible nightmares and making them feel like they're suffocating. In the Middle Ages, not only did people believe incubi (yes, that's the plural) were real; they passed laws against these terrifying spirits. These days, an apparent incubus is likely to be explained away as sleep paralysis, or a waking dream.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

incubus incubi incubuses

Either side of this 10-foot incubus Bryan Robson and Peter Shilton pose supportively, like game but frightened parents.

From The Guardian ● Jul. 17, 2020

But, as Pope Francis has said, there is a moral incubus on mankind to make a reality of Article 6 of the agreement pledging the abolition of nuclear weapons altogether. 

From US News ● Aug. 10, 2015

At some midpoint in this incubus, it seemed that nothing would ever seem stupid, or at least surprisingly stupid, ever again.

From Slate

Though rid of the Hughes incubus, Tillinghast and TWA do not lack for problems, thanks to the lively state of airline competition.

From Time Magazine Archive

An idea shot through her mind that she might call a policeman to rid her of this incubus.

From An Ambitious Woman A Novel by Edgar Fawcett

All so they can keep expanding, squatting over lives like feudal incubi.

From The Guardian ● Apr. 16, 2018

They form and re-form bureaucratic incubi that mock Us with Our own impotence and trip Us up with rules only They understand.

From New York Times ● Dec. 23, 2011

This situation crops up in folk literature, with tales of changelings or of sleeping women seduced and impregnated by incubi, and occasionally appears in popular entertainments like The Bad Seed and Rosemary's Baby.

From Time Magazine Archive

Oh, the tradition exists everywhere, whether you call these occasional interlopers fauns, fairies, gnomes, ondines, incubi, or demons.

From The Certain Hour by James Branch Cabell

Before saying more of the "incubi," we may bestow a passing glance upon the foundation of the idea of their existence.

From Ancient Faiths And Modern A Dissertation upon Worships, Legends and Divinities by Thomas Inman

For, as Apuleius informs us in his book concerning the Demon of Socrates, between the moon and the earth inhabit those spirits, which we will call incubuses.

From Old English Chronicles by Various

One of my friends made me laugh the other day, when, speaking of the pretended incubuses, he said that those who believed in them were not wise to marry.

From The Phantom World or, The philosophy of spirits, apparitions, &c, &c. by Henry Christmas