phobia

¹ American  

[foh-bee-uh] / ˈfoʊ bi ə /

noun

1. an intense, persistent, irrational fear of a specific object, activity, situation, or person that manifests in physical symptoms such as sweating, trembling, rapid heartbeat, or shortness of breath, and that motivates avoidance behavior.

2. an aversion toward, dislike of, or disrespect for a thing, idea, person, or group.

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-phobia ² American  

1. a combining form meaning “fear,” occurring in loanwords from Greek (hydrophobia ); on this model, used in the names of anxiety disorders that have the general sense “dread of, aversion toward” that specified by the initial element (agoraphobia ); on the same model, used in words that name hostility toward a thing or idea, or a specific group, with the sense “antipathy toward or dislike of, disrespect or disdain for” the object or people specified by the initial element (technophobia ;xenophobia ).

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phobia ¹ British  

/ ˈfəʊbɪə /

noun

1. psychiatry an abnormal intense and irrational fear of a given situation, organism, or object

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-phobia ² British  

combining form

1. indicating an extreme abnormal fear of or aversion to

   acrophobia

   claustrophobia

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phobia Cultural  

1. An extreme and often unreasonable fear of some object, concept, situation, or person.

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Usage

What does -phobia mean? The combining form -phobia is used like a suffix meaning “fear.” It is often used in scientific terms, especially in psychology and biology. The form -phobia comes from Greek phóbos, meaning “fear” or “panic.” The Latin translation is timor, “fear,” which is the source of words such as timid and timorous. What are variants of -phobia?While -phobia doesn’t have any variants, it is related to two other combining forms: -phobic and -phobe. Want to know more? Check out our Words that Use articles for each form.

Other Word Forms

• -phobic combining form

Etymology

Origin of phobia¹

First recorded in 1780–90; extracted from nouns ending in -phobia

Origin of -phobia²

From Latin, from Greek, equivalent to -phob(os) “panic fear” + -ia noun suffix; -phobe, -ia

Explanation

A phobia is an intense and irrational fear of something. If seeing a spider makes you scream and jump on top of a table, then you might suffer from a phobia. The thing to remember about phobia is that it describes an irrational fear. If you’re afraid of a black widow spider, for example, that’s not a phobia — it’s just smart, because the spider is poisonous. If you’re afraid of all spiders, however, and the sight of a harmless daddy long legs spider has you shaking in terror, then you may have a phobia. In this case, it's a phobia because your reaction is irrational.

Example Sentences

The plaintiff’s former therapist, Victoria Burke, testified that she diagnosed Kaley with body dysmorphia and social phobia, a type of anxiety disorder, in her early teens.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 26, 2026

Like addiction or phobia, it narrows lives and corrodes resilience.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 19, 2025

In my early 30s, I developed a terrible phobia of flying.

From Los Angeles Times • May 9, 2025

A Swedish minister's phobia of bananas has reportedly led to government officials asking for rooms to be free of the fruit.

From BBC • Nov. 14, 2024

“Good cover story. Did you call it needle phobia or aichmophobia? Because both terms can be used to describe the extreme fear of medical procedures involving injections.”

From "The Smartest Kid in the Universe" by Chris Grabenstein

Related Words

• alarm
• anxiety
• aversion
• distaste
• dread
• fear
• fearfulness
• hang-up
• loathing
• obsession
• resentment
• revulsion
• trepidation