Melanophobia
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Fear, hate, or dislike of black people. uncountable
"The sympathy of Maga with white oppressors of black men, has been shown in several recent articles, in which it classes negroes with monkeys and gorillas; as inferior to the whites as white men are to angels.—Vol. xci, p 4; and xcvii, 34, 152. This, and its unjust and bitter invectives against the anti-slavery party, as hypocrites and ultra-radicals,—xcix, 589, 590—are among the most melancholy instances of Melanophobia with which we are acquainted."
- 2 Fear of ink. rare, uncountable
"This odious apparatus of pen and ink! Why cannot we hold intercourse together without this formidable machinery? I have a perfect melanophobia, and I go on like Coleridge, with his headache in bed, longing to write, yet always wanting the time for something else."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"The sympathy of Maga with white oppressors of black men, has been shown in several recent articles, in which it classes negroes with monkeys and gorillas; as inferior to the whites as white men are to angels.—Vol. xci, p 4; and xcvii, 34, 152. This, and its unjust and bitter invectives against the anti-slavery party, as hypocrites and ultra-radicals,—xcix, 589, 590—are among the most melancholy instances of Melanophobia with which we are acquainted."
Etymology
From Ancient Greek μέλᾱς (mélās) + -o- + -phobia.
From Ancient Greek μέλᾰν (mélăn) + -o- + -phobia.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.