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View synonyms for nightmare

nightmare

[ nahyt-mair ]

noun

  1. a terrifying dream in which the dreamer experiences feelings of helplessness, extreme anxiety, sorrow, etc.

    Synonyms: phantasmagoria

  2. a condition, thought, or experience suggestive of a nightmare:

    the nightmare of his years in prison.

  3. (formerly) a monster or evil spirit believed to oppress persons during sleep.


nightmare

/ ˈnaɪtˌmɛə /

noun

  1. a terrifying or deeply distressing dream
    1. an event or condition resembling a terrifying dream

      the nightmare of shipwreck

    2. ( as modifier )

      a nightmare drive

  2. a thing that is feared
  3. (formerly) an evil spirit supposed to harass or suffocate sleeping people


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Derived Forms

  • ˈnightˌmarishness, noun
  • ˈnightˌmarishly, adverb
  • ˈnightˌmarish, adjective

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Word History and Origins

Origin of nightmare1

Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; night, mare 2

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Word History and Origins

Origin of nightmare1

C13 (meaning: incubus; C16: bad dream): from night + Old English mare, mære evil spirit, from Germanic; compare Old Norse mara incubus, Polish zmora, French cauchemar nightmare

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Synonym Study

See dream.

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Example Sentences

You know, I feel the same way about that that I do about The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Uber responded to the PR nightmare by reversing the surge, refunding those affected, and doling out free rides.

For Jane Doe though, she was heading into yet another nightmare.

The path may be there, but current travelers to Sudan face a bureaucratic nightmare of permits and road blocks.

His lone stable was a girl from Newport News, Virginia, who had already escaped one nightmare.

As men fixed in the grip of nightmare, we were powerless—unable to do anything but wait.

And the nightmare clutch laid hold upon his heart with giant pincers.

But a horrible thing that had happened to him, had awakened in him a lonely nightmare of restlessness.

It was a kind of nightmare, and her heart beat fast as the bids came rapidly,—sometimes on Howard's side and sometimes on Jack's.

They awoke on the morrow, their minds still distraught and deeming the thing was but a nightmare.

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