Nightmare meaning

nītmâr

Words form:

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Any experience like a nightmare in its terrifying or distressing aspects.

noun

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

noun

An event or experience that is intensely distressing.

noun

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

noun

An event or experience that is intensely distressing.

noun

A demon or spirit once thought to plague sleeping people.

noun

(folklore, historical) An evil spirit believed to haunt and suffocate sleeping people.

noun

A frightening dream, often accompanied by a sensation of oppression and helplessness.

noun

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

(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

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

noun

(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

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