Wiktionary

phobia

See also: -phobia

English

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 Phobia (disambiguation) on Wikipedia

Etymology

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c 1790, from words ending in -phobia, from Ancient Greek φόβος (phóbos, “fear”). Compare ism, from -ism, itis, from -itis, and ana, from -ana.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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phobia (plural phobias or phobiae or phobiæ)

  1. An irrational, abnormal, or obsessive fear (of something).
    I know someone with a strange phobia of ladders.
    • 1925, Sinclair Lewis, Arrowsmith:
      It was when anthropophobia set in, when he was made uneasy by people who walked too close to him, that, sagely viewing his list and seeing how many phobias were now checked, he permitted himself to rest.
  2. An aversion or dislike (of something).
    • 1914, McClure's Magazine, page 140:
      Some patients have the phobia of light, and others have the phobia of darkness. Another common aversion is that of high places. The phobiac of this type can not sit in the gallery […]
    • 2009 06, Michael G. Peletz, Gender Pluralism: Southeast Asia Since Early Modern Times, Routledge, →ISBN, page 162:
      For as interviewer Than Win Htut expressed it, “misunderstandings about, and phobia of, gay life and homosexuality are very common in Burma.” Than Win Htut went on to observe that in Burma […]
    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:phobia.

Hyponyms

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Derived terms

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English terms suffixed with -phobia
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Translations

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See also

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