thanatophobia

American  

[than-uh-tuh-foh-bee-uh] / ˌθæn ə təˈfoʊ bi ə /

noun

Psychiatry.

1. an irrational or disproportionate fear of death, especially one's own.

   My daughter’s thanatophobia grew during high school—while many teens feel invincible, she was terror-stricken and obsessed with her mortality.

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Other Word Forms

• thanatophobic adjective

Etymology

Origin of thanatophobia

First recorded in 1855–60; thanato- + -phobia

Explanation

Someone who can't stop thinking and fretting about death suffers from thanatophobia. Beyond normal worries, true thanatophobia makes it hard to sleep, work, or enjoy life. Thanatophobia has two Greek roots, thanatos, or "death," and phobos, "fear or terror." Sigmund Freud is credited with inventing this word, along with a theory that people who are terrified of death are actually dealing with unresolved childhood issues. Like a true phobia of heights, crowds, or snakes, thanatophobia causes intense anxiety to its sufferers, who may fear imagining their own death, or a loved one dying — or even the idea of talking about death and dying.

Example Sentences

Unsurprisingly, Mr. Barnes’s thanatophobia has been a fixation of his work.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 16, 2026

I admit that my way to mollify thanatophobia is peculiar, this blend of self-important sentimentality and unnecessary morbidity.

From Slate • Sep. 28, 2018

Necrophobia and thanatophobia are allied maladies, one being the fear of dead bodies and the other the fear of death itself.

From Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine by Pyle, Walter L. (Walter Lytle)