terror
Americannoun
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terrors
plural
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intense, sharp, overmastering fear.
to be frantic with terror.
- Synonyms:
- consternation, dismay, alarm
- Antonyms:
- calm
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an instance or cause of intense fear or anxiety; quality of causing terror.
to be a terror to evildoers.
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any period of frightful violence or bloodshed likened to the Reign of Terror in France.
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violence or threats of violence used for intimidation or coercion; terrorism.
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Informal. a person or thing that is especially annoying or unpleasant.
noun
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great fear, panic, or dread
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a person or thing that inspires great dread
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informal a troublesome person or thing, esp a child
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terrorism
Synonym Usage
Terror, horror, panic, fright all imply extreme fear in the presence of danger or evil. Terror implies an intense fear that is somewhat prolonged and may refer to imagined or future dangers: frozen with terror. Horror implies a sense of shock at a danger that is also evil, and the danger may be to others rather than to oneself: to recoil in horror. Panic and fright both imply a sudden shock of fear. Fright is usually of short duration: a spasm of fright. Panic is uncontrolled and unreasoning fear, often groundless, that may be prolonged: The mob was in a panic.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of terror
First recorded in 1325–75; from Latin, equivalent to terrēre “to frighten” + -or -or 1; replacing Middle English terrour, from Anglo-French, from Latin, as above
Explanation
Terror is the feeling of extreme fear. If you unexpectedly find someone dressed up as a vampire in your closet in the middle of a dark night, you might well experience feelings of terror. If you feel terror, you are frozen to the spot in fear. This is the goal of terrorists who use terror as a weapon — they create a climate of fear and mistrust so that people are afraid to go about their normal lives. You will recognize this use in the phrase “the war on terror.” You can also call a difficult or scary person, often a child who causes havoc, a terror or a holy terror.
Vocabulary lists containing terror
Uncanny, Creepy, or Downright Scary: Words For Halloween
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
"Julius Caesar" by William Shakespeare, Act II
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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
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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.
See Examples For:
‘The terror of being seen as a racist’ has nothing to do with helping black people.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026
Five men were initially arrested on suspicion of terror offences and subsequently released on bail.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
We know the directorial strategy at work—the balancing of the two security guards’ mind-numbing routine with the outright terror that an audience expects but can’t quite anticipate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
On Tuesday, the United States Supreme Court refused to hear her claim that “the mental suffering and psychological terror she will experience under Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol is cognizable under the Eighth Amendment.”
From Slate ● Oct. 1, 2026
But before terror could take full hold of him again, he heard shouts from above, where the others had completed the climb.
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
At around age 19 or 20, he began having regular night terrors and daily flashbacks to “horrific, nightmarish things.”
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026
Now adults, they talk of growing up with night terrors and the burden of constantly being seen as victims of a historic disaster.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
Narbé has held onto so many difficult memories, including the nighttime terrors associated with bombings during the Iran-Iraq war.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026
“Sinners” is a meditation on how the past’s crimes and terrors bleed into the present, rendered by a Black artist using a popular genre, horror, as half of his canvas.
From Salon ● Mar. 13, 2026
You certainly couldn’t protect anybody from all the terrors of the world.
From "A Tangle of Knots" by Lisa Graff
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.
