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panic
1[ pan-ik ]
noun
- a sudden overwhelming fear, with or without cause, that produces hysterical or irrational behavior, and that often spreads quickly through a group of persons or animals.
- an instance, outbreak, or period of such fear.
- Finance. a sudden widespread fear concerning financial affairs leading to credit contraction and widespread sale of securities at depressed prices in an effort to acquire cash.
- Slang. someone or something that is considered hilariously funny:
The comedian was an absolute panic.
adjective
- of the nature of, caused by, or indicating panic:
A wave of panic buying shook the stock market.
- (of fear, terror, etc.) suddenly destroying the self-control and impelling to some frantic action.
- Panic, of or relating to the god Pan.
verb (used with object)
- to affect with panic; terrify and cause to flee or lose self-control.
- Slang. to keep (an audience or the like) highly amused.
verb (used without object)
- to be stricken with panic; become frantic with fear:
The herd panicked and stampeded.
panic
2[ pan-ik ]
noun
- Also called panic grass. any grass of the genus Panicum, many species of which bear edible grain.
- the grain.
panic
1/ ˈpænɪk /
noun
- a sudden overwhelming feeling of terror or anxiety, esp one affecting a whole group of people
- modifier of or resulting from such terror
panic measures
verb
- to feel or cause to feel panic
Panic
2/ ˈpænɪk /
adjective
- of or relating to the god Pan
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Derived Forms
- ˈpanicky, adjective
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Other Words From
- panick·y adjective
- un·panick·y adjective
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Word History and Origins
Origin of panic1
Origin of panic2
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Word History and Origins
Origin of panic1
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Idioms and Phrases
see push the panic button .Discover More
Synonym Study
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Example Sentences
Just two young kids experiencing the panic, pain, and then the miracle, of new birth.
Hence, I suspect, the panic, the lockdown, the capitulation.
Someone was sure to capitalize on the Ebola panic, and Dr. Joseph Alton is that guy.
In one sentence, he asserts: “Panic is worse than complacency.”
Panic—and the inevitable panicking about the panic—is counterproductive.
We stood staring after the fugitives in perfect bewilderment, totally unable to explain their apparently causeless panic.
Two artillery subalterns who had fought their way through a mob stricken with panic for the moment, soon arrived.
He was naturally frightfully upset about it, and a regular panic sprang up in the neighbourhood.
She should not show panic because of the mysterious noise in the loft of the abandoned Carter house.
General Wheatonʼs brigade captured Malinta, and the insurgents fled panic-stricken after having suffered severely.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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