Phobia

//ˈfəʊ.bi.ə// noun

noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An irrational, abnormal, or obsessive fear (of something).

    "I know someone with a strange phobia of ladders."

  2. 2
    an anxiety disorder characterized by extreme and irrational fear of simple things or social situations wordnet
  3. 3
    An aversion or dislike (of something).

    "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 […]"

Synonyms

All synonyms
abhorrenceabject fearabominationaccident neurosisaffrightalarm

Example

More examples

"He has a phobia of Jaffa Cakes."

Etymology

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

Related phrases

social phobiaspecific phobiasocial anxiety disorder

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.