stage fright

noun

1. nervousness felt by a performer or speaker when appearing before an audience.

stage fright

noun

1. nervousness or panic that may beset a person about to appear in front of an audience

Word History and Origins

Origin of stage fright¹

First recorded in 1875–80

Idioms and Phrases

Acute nervousness when performing or speaking before an audience, as in When John first had to present his findings to the board of directors, stage fright made him stutter . [Second half of 1800s]

Example Sentences

A combination of propriety and vomit-inducing stage fright has always kept her from going public with the virtuosic guitar chops she learned by emulating folkie heroes like Don McLean.

From Time

Initially, she continued wearing the mask to cover her stage fright as she performed in front of thousands of people.

From Ozy

He talks to Gordon Marino about reliving his darkest moments—and how he faced down his stage fright.

From The Daily Beast

First, she had to overcome her stage fright to go head-to-head with the big boys.

From The Daily Beast

Howard Kurtz talks to Russert about stage fright, weight loss and his critics.

From The Daily Beast

For Mutomobo, playing basketball in front of 30,000 people was a shock, and he often had stage fright.

From The Daily Beast

This is called stage-fright, and it is never cured; it has ruined more brilliant careers than the critics have.

From Project Gutenberg

Perhaps it was stage fright; my voice broke badly, and the audience, especially the men, were not kind.

From Project Gutenberg

An extreme example of this form of nervousness is offered by the unfortunate sufferer from stage fright.

From Project Gutenberg

Stage fright, an extreme form of nervousness, sometimes deprives the sufferer entirely of the power of speech.

From Project Gutenberg

As in Chicago, she was seized with stage fright as the very first entrance of the ballet approached, but later she recovered.

From Project Gutenberg