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terror - 6 dictionary results

ter⋅ror

  [ter-er]
Use terror in a Sentence
–noun
1. intense, sharp, overmastering fear: to be frantic with terror.
2. an instance or cause of intense fear or anxiety; quality of causing terror: to be a terror to evildoers.
3. any period of frightful violence or bloodshed likened to the Reign of Terror in France.
4. violence or threats of violence used for intimidation or coercion; terrorism.
5. Informal. a person or thing that is especially annoying or unpleasant.
Origin:
1325–75; < L, equiv. to terr(ēre) to frighten + -or -or 1 ; r. ME terrour < AF < L, as above

Related forms:
ter⋅ror⋅ful, adjective
ter⋅ror⋅less, adjective

Synonyms:
1. alarm, dismay, consternation. Terror, horror, panic, fright all imply extreme fear in the presence of danger or evil. Terror implies an intense fear that is somewhat prolonged and may refer to imagined or future dangers: frozen with terror. Horror implies a sense of shock at a danger that is also evil, and the danger may be to others rather than to oneself: to recoil in horror. Panic and fright both imply a sudden shock of fear. Fright is usually of short duration: a spasm of fright. Panic is uncontrolled and unreasoning fear, often groundless, that may be prolonged: The mob was in a panic.

Antonyms:
1. calm.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To terror
ter·ror   (těr'ər)   
n.  
  1. Intense, overpowering fear. See Synonyms at fear.
  2. One that instills intense fear: a rabid dog that became the terror of the neighborhood.
  3. The ability to instill intense fear: the terror of jackboots pounding down the street.
  4. Violence committed or threatened by a group to intimidate or coerce a population, as for military or political purposes.
  5. Informal An annoying or intolerable pest: that little terror of a child.

[Middle English terrour, from Old French terreur, from Latin terror, from terrēre, to frighten.]
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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Terror

Ter"ror\, n. [L. terror, akin to terrere to frighten, for tersere; akin to Gr. ? to flee away, dread, Skr. tras to tremble, to be afraid, Russ. triasti to shake: cf. F. terreur. Cf. Deter.]

1. Extreme fear; fear that agitates body and mind; violent dread; fright.

Terror seized the rebel host. --Milton.

2. That which excites dread; a cause of extreme fear.

Those enormous terrors of the Nile. --Prior.

Rulers are not a terror to good works. --Rom. xiii. 3.

There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats. --Shak.

Note: Terror is used in the formation of compounds which are generally self-explaining: as, terror-fraught, terror-giving, terror-smitten, terror-stricken, terror-struck, and the like.

King of terrors, death. --Job xviii. 14.

Reign of Terror. (F. Hist.) See in Dictionary of Noted Names in Fiction.

Syn: Alarm; fright; consternation; dread; dismay. See Alarm.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : terror
Spanish: terror, pavor,
German: das Entsetzen,
Japanese: 恐怖
More Translations »

terror 
c.1375 "great fear," from O.Fr. terreur (14c.), from L. terrorem (nom. terror) "great fear, dread," from terrere "fill with fear, frighten," from PIE base *tre- "shake" (see terrible). Meaning "quality of causing dread" is attested from 1528; terror bombing first recorded 1941, with ref. to German air attack on Rotterdam. Sense of "a person fancied as a source of terror" (often with deliberate exaggeration, as of a naughty child) is recorded from 1883. The Reign of Terror in Fr. history (March 1793-July 1794) so called in Eng. from 1801. An O.E. word for "terror" was broga, also egesa.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: ter·ror
Function: noun
: an intense fear of physical injury or death terror by forced entry or unlawful assembly>; also : the infliction of such fear terror>
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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terror

see holy terror.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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