panic attack

American  

noun

Psychiatry.

• panic attacks
  plural

1. an intense attack of anxiety characterized by feelings of impending doom and trembling, sweating, pounding heart, and other physical symptoms.

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panic attack British  

noun

1. an episode of acute and disabling anxiety associated with such physical symptoms as hyperventilation and sweating See also panic disorder

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• panic attacks
  plural

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

panic attack

Warner Judd recalls feeling like she was "having a panic attack" upon returning to the track, and required a year of therapy to fully process her trauma.

From BBC ● Apr. 23, 2026

On the main stage, May Habib, chief executive of an AI platform called Writer, told the audience that Fortune 500 bosses are having a "collective panic attack" on the subject.

From Barron's ● Apr. 12, 2026

Shear says he first began his original screenplay with an image of a young man having a panic attack in the self-help section of a bookshop and grew the script from there.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 2, 2026

Irish filmmaker John Kelly, who specializes in animation, had a panic attack on an airplane while going through endless flagged emails.

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 13, 2026

I realized I must be having some sort of panic attack.

From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline

Related Words

• spasm