Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A persistent, abnormal, and irrational fear of a specific thing or situation that compels one to avoid it, despite the awareness and reassurance that it is not dangerous.
- noun A strong fear, dislike, or aversion.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Any morbid uncontrollable dread or fear.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun An
irrational orobsessive fear oranxiety , usually of or about somethingparticular .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an anxiety disorder characterized by extreme and irrational fear of simple things or social situations
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word phobia.
Examples
-
If the patient does not recognize the fear as excessive or unreasonable, it becomes very difficult to actually prove that the fear is indeed excessive and unreasonable and thus the term "phobia" is not applicable.
Jalees Rehman, M.D.: 'Islamophobia' Is Not A Phobia M.D. Jalees Rehman 2011
-
If the patient does not recognize the fear as excessive or unreasonable, it becomes very difficult to actually prove that the fear is indeed excessive and unreasonable and thus the term "phobia" is not applicable.
Jalees Rehman, M.D.: 'Islamophobia' Is Not A Phobia M.D. Jalees Rehman 2011
-
The term phobia being an irrational fear of something, nobody is afraid of homosexuals and nobody fears contracting homosexuality
Conservapedia - Recent changes [en] Aschlafly 2010
-
When neologisms with the word "phobia" are formed, this requirement should be considered.
Jalees Rehman, M.D.: 'Islamophobia' Is Not A Phobia M.D. Jalees Rehman 2011
-
When neologisms with the word "phobia" are formed, this requirement should be considered.
Jalees Rehman, M.D.: 'Islamophobia' Is Not A Phobia M.D. Jalees Rehman 2011
-
As any freshman psych student can tell you, a phobia is ‘an irrational fear.’
-
As any freshman psych student can tell you, a phobia is ‘an irrational fear.’
-
This is quite important since not every fear is automatically a "phobia"; the psychiatric term "phobia" is reserved for cases when the fear is excessive or unreasonable.
Jalees Rehman, M.D.: 'Islamophobia' Is Not A Phobia M.D. Jalees Rehman 2011
-
This is quite important since not every fear is automatically a "phobia"; the psychiatric term "phobia" is reserved for cases when the fear is excessive or unreasonable.
Jalees Rehman, M.D.: 'Islamophobia' Is Not A Phobia M.D. Jalees Rehman 2011
-
As any freshman psych student can tell you, a phobia is ‘an irrational fear.’
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.