Nightmare
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: /naɪt.mɛə/
- GenAm IPA: /naɪt.mɛəɹ/, nʌɪʔ.mɛəɹ
Origin
From Middle English nightemare, niÈtmare, equivalent to night + mare("evil spirit believed to afflict a sleeping person"). Cognate with Scots nichtmare, nichtmeer ("nightmare"), Dutch nachtmerrie ("nightmare"), Middle Low German nachtmÄr ("nightmare"), German Nachtmahr ("nightmare").
Full definition of nightmare
Noun
nightmare
(plural nightmares)- (now rare) A female demon or monster, thought to plague people while they slept and cause a feeling of suffocation and terror during sleep.
- 1817, Walter Scott, Rob Roy:It haunted me, however, more than once, like the nightmare.
- A very bad or frightening dream.I had a nightmare that I tried to run but could neither move nor breathe.
- July 18 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Dark Knight Riseshttp://www.avclub.com/articles/the-dark-knight-rises-review-batman,82624/With his crude potato-sack mask and fear-inducing toxins, The Scarecrow, a “psychopharmacologist†at an insane asylum, acts as a conjurer of nightmares, capable of turning his patients’ most terrifying anxieties against them.
- (figuratively) Any bad, miserable, difficult or terrifying situation or experience that arouses anxiety, terror, agony or great displeasure.Cleaning up after identity theft can be a nightmare of phone calls and letters.
Synonyms
- (demon said to torment sleepers) incubus male demon afflicting female sleeper, succubus
- (bad dream) night terror sleep disorder