specific phobia

[ spi-sif-ik foh-bee-uh ]

noun

, Psychiatry.

1. an intense, persistent, irrational fear of a specific object, activity, situation, or person that leads to avoidance behavior so pronounced as to disrupt daily life: the term specific phobia, as opposed to the nontechnical word phobia, is the official diagnostic name for this mental disorder.

Word History and Origins

Origin of specific phobia¹

First recorded in 1910–15