Wordfinder

Nightmare definition

nītmâr
nightmares
See word origin
Frequency:
Any experience like a nightmare in its terrifying or distressing aspects.
noun
9
1
A dream arousing feelings of intense fear, horror, and distress.
noun
9
1
An event or experience that is intensely distressing.
noun
3
0
A dream arousing feelings of intense fear, horror, and distress.
noun
2
1
An event or experience that is intensely distressing.
noun
2
1
Advertisement
A demon or spirit once thought to plague sleeping people.
noun
1
1
(folklore, historical) An evil spirit believed to haunt and suffocate sleeping people.
noun
1
1
A frightening dream, often accompanied by a sensation of oppression and helplessness.
noun
1
1
The definition of a nightmare is a bad dream, or an experience that is like a bad dream.

An example of a nightmare is a dream of a monster that wakes a child.

An example of a nightmare is a family having a flat tire on a busy freeway.

noun
0
0
(now rare) A female demon or monster, thought to plague people while they slept and cause a feeling of suffocation and terror during sleep.
noun
0
0
Advertisement
A very bad or frightening dream.

I had a nightmare that I tried to run but could neither move nor breathe.

noun
0
0
(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.

noun
0
0

Other Word Forms

Noun

Singular:
nightmare
Plural:
nightmares

Origin of nightmare

  • Middle English a female demon that afflicts sleeping people night night night mare goblin (from Old English mer- in Indo-European roots)

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From Middle English nightemare, niȝtmare, equivalent to night +"Ž mare (“evil spirit believed to afflict a sleeping person"). Cognate with Scots nichtmare, nichtmeer (“nightmare"), Dutch nachtmerrie (“nightmare"), Middle Low German nachtmār (“nightmare"), German Nachtmahr (“nightmare").

    From Wiktionary

Nightmare Sentence Examples

  • Lost souls, shut out of the underworld, was the greatest nightmare for Death.

  • It was the moment she realized her nightmare was beginning.

  • He's a nightmare to work for.

  • She had a nightmare about Alex being stabbed.

  • She awoke six more times willing the nightmare to be over.

More sentences

Related articles

Also Mentioned In

Words near nightmare in the Dictionary