nightmarish
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of nightmarish
Explanation
Something nightmarish is truly horrifying, something that would show up in a bad dream. Your nightmarish day might start with a car accident on the way to school and end with a fight with your best friend. A chilling scream in the middle of the night is nightmarish, and traumatic experiences like an episode of bullying or nearly stumbling off the top of a cliff would also be nightmarish. You can also use this adjective to emphasize the unpleasantness of an experience in a slightly exaggerated way: "Ugh, that math test was absolutely nightmarish." Nightmarish things resemble nightmares, or terrifying dreams.
Vocabulary lists containing nightmarish
Rowan of Rin
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Novel Study: Their Eyes Were Watching God, Chapters 12–20
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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.
At around age 19 or 20, he began having regular night terrors and daily flashbacks to “horrific, nightmarish things.”
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026
Fifth last season was reasonable, but it must have felt nightmarish to Hibs fans as Hearts roared on and threatened to win the league.
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026
Our critic called the presentation “an uneasy and vivid blend of daydream and nightmarish reality.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
One of its all-time best, Season 2’s “Teddy Perkins,” contained all the tension of a nightmarish horror thriller.
From Salon ● Jul. 1, 2026
They were all shuffling through a maze of guide ropes, like weary overgrown children at some nightmarish amusement park.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
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.
