neophobia
Britishnoun
Other Word Forms
Explanation
If you suffer from neophobia, you're terrified of new things. Your neophobia might keep you from moving out of your dark, cramped apartment into a new house. People with neophobia have deep anxiety and fear associated with any experience or thing that's new. If your grandmother seems scared to learn how to use a computer, it may be because of neophobia. The word is often used by biologists who study animals, too: the behavior of certain birds tends to be affected by neophobia. The word itself combines neo, or "new" in Greek, and phobos, or "fear."
Vocabulary lists containing neophobia
Phobia Fever
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Roots: phob
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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.
Many articles about the possibility of introducing insects to Western or American diners have emphasized the challenges posed by neophobia and "the yuck factor."
From Salon • Nov. 4, 2024
Disgust and food neophobia – a fear of new foods – are often cited as obstacles to adopting new, more sustainable food choices, but I believe that recent history offers a more complicated picture.
From Salon • Nov. 4, 2024
“Their nature,” said Mr. Deutsch, “is to explore. They do exhibit a behavior called neophobia, which is fear of new things. But they can overcome that.”
From New York Times • Apr. 30, 2020
She calculated that about 78 percent of the population-wide variation in food neophobia severity is explained by genetic differences—in other words, there may well be neophobia genes.
From Slate • Dec. 19, 2012
A third glance suggests neophobia – a respect for the canon but very little new stuff.
From The Guardian • Mar. 20, 2010
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.
