Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

night terrors

British  

plural noun

  1. a condition in which a person, usually a child, suddenly starts from sleep in a state of extreme fear but cannot later remember the incident

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

See Examples For:

At around age 19 or 20, he began having regular night terrors and daily flashbacks to “horrific, nightmarish things.”

From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026

Now adults, they talk of growing up with night terrors and the burden of constantly being seen as victims of a historic disaster.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026

"Now I've started therapy and hopefully that will help the night terrors."

From BBC ● May 11, 2026

Heck, hire a nutritionist…and then a therapist who can console you through the night terrors you still have about that time you almost shelled out $25,000 for a gym membership.

From MarketWatch ● Jan. 2, 2026

The memories, the dreams, all the night terrors blast back into my mind.

From "Like Vanessa" by Tami Charles

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

Get a word

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Join 14,000,000 vocabulary learners

Start learning new words today on VocabTrainer.
You'll remember them forever.

Start training