night terror

noun

, Psychiatry.

1. a sudden feeling of extreme fear that awakens a sleeping person, usually during slow-wave sleep, and is not associated with a dream or nightmare.

Word History and Origins

Origin of night terror¹

First recorded in 1895–1900

Example Sentences

When Murphy’s son read Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “Beloved,” and was so moved by the brutality of the story that it gave him night terrors, he was awakened to one of the searing and true chapters of America’s past.

From Washington Post

I would fall asleep to night terrors and wake up sweating, their words circling in my head and feeding my vultures of anxiety.

From Nautilus