an intense, persistent, irrational fear of a specific object, activity, situation, or person that manifests in physical symptoms such as sweating, trembling, rapid heartbeat, or shortness of breath, and that motivates avoidance behavior.
an aversion toward, dislike of, or disrespect for a thing, idea, person, or group.
What does -phobia mean? The combining form -phobia is used like a suffix meaning “fear.” It is often used in scientific terms, especially in psychology and biology. The form -phobia comes from Greek phóbos, meaning “fear” or “panic.” The Latin translation is timor, “fear,” which is the source of words such as timid and timorous. What are variants of -phobia?While -phobia doesn’t have any variants, it is related to two other combining forms: -phobic and -phobe. Want to know more? Check out our Words that Use articles for each form.
First recorded in 1780–90; extracted from nouns ending in -phobia
From Latin, from Greek, equivalent to -phob(os) “panic fear” + -ia noun suffix; see origin at -phobe, -ia
A phobia is an intense and irrational fear of something. If seeing a spider makes you scream and jump on top of a table, then you might suffer from a phobia. The thing to remember about phobia is that it describes an irrational fear. If you’re afraid of a black widow spider, for example, that’s not a phobia — it’s just smart, because the spider is poisonous. If you’re afraid of all spiders, however, and the sight of a harmless daddy long legs spider has you shaking in terror, then you may have a phobia. In this case, it's a phobia because your reaction is irrational.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
This can make it difficult for patients with needle phobia or who don’t want to self-inject due to the inconvenience.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 8, 2026
And there's another phenomenon that has been termed "complexity phobia": the aversion to recognising incontrovertible evidence and facts if they challenge a more comfortable and comforting narrative.
From BBC ● Mar. 7, 2026
One of my prompts on the app detailed my phobia of snails in detail.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 9, 2026
She was diagnosed with school phobia and ended up being home schooled for a while, and has since found it hard to stay in a job.
From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2025
My mother had never heard the word "phobia" before.
From "Black Star, Bright Dawn" by Scott O'Dell
Then there’s the knotty question of the impact of Anglophilia and -phobia, and how the two mingle and complicate each other.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 20, 2014
Anxiety disorders include generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety disorders, and phobias.
From Science Daily ● May 16, 2026
It is human nature to project our phobias, prejudices and obsessions onto what is simply a biological contest between our immune system and the amoral pathogens trying to replicate themselves within us.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026
The category encompasses post-traumatic stress disorder and phobias or compulsions that result in “marked difficulties” with working or living in society.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2025
Or would his phobias prove to be more debilitating than ever before?
From Salon ● Nov. 8, 2023
The long list of situational phobias includes the fears of being bound, beaten, locked into an enclosed area, and smeared with human waste.
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
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.