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nightmare

 - 5 dictionary results

night⋅mare

  [nahyt-mair]
Use nightmare in a Sentence
–noun
1. a terrifying dream in which the dreamer experiences feelings of helplessness, extreme anxiety, sorrow, etc.
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.
Origin:
1250–1300; ME; see night, mare 2

Synonyms:
1. phantasmagoria. See dream.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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night·mare   (nīt'mâr')   
n.  

  1. A dream arousing feelings of intense fear, horror, and distress.

  2. An event or experience that is intensely distressing.

  3. A demon or spirit once thought to plague sleeping people.


[Middle English, a female demon that afflicts sleeping people : night, night; see night + mare, goblin (from Old English; see mer- in Indo-European roots).]
night'mar'ish adj., night'mar'ish·ly adv., night'mar'ish·ness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

nightmare 
c.1290, "an evil female spirit afflicting sleepers with a feeling of suffocation," compounded from night + mare "goblin that causes nightmares, incubus," from O.E. mare "incubus," from mera, mære, from P.Gmc. *maron "goblin," from PIE *mora- "incubus," from base *mer- "to rub away, harm, seize" (cf. first element in O.Ir. Morrigain "demoness of the corpses," lit. "queen of the nightmare," also Bulg., Serb., Pol. mora "incubus;" Fr. cauchemar, with first element is from O.Fr. caucher "to trample"). Meaning shifted mid-16c. from the incubus to the suffocating sensation it causes. Sense of "any bad dream" first recorded 1829; that of "very distressing experience" is from 1831.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: night·mare
Pronunciation: 'nIt-"ma(&)r, -"me(&)r
Function: noun
: a frightening dream accompanied by a sense of oppression orsuffocation that usually awakens the sleeper
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

nightmare night·mare (nīt'mâr')
n.

  1. A dream arousing feelings of intense fear, horror, and distress.

  2. An event or experience that is intensely distressing.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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