as in panic
an extremely strong dislike or fear of someone or something
His fear of crowds eventually developed into a phobia.
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of phobia
Luckily, there’s a cure for those suffering from forest fire phobia.
—
Josh Schlossberg, The Denver Post, 22 Dec. 2024
Extreme phobia such as Velasquez’s is uncommon, but many people have a general fear of needles that makes vaccinations stressful or even impossible for them.
—Stephani Sutherland, Scientific American, 15 Oct. 2024
Khloé Kardashian, on the other hand, has been waiting much longer between piercings, and in that time has apparently developed a bit of a phobia.
—Marci Robin, Allure, 19 Nov. 2024
Intrigued by shyness, Zimbardo founded the Stanford Shyness Clinic to uncover the roots of anxiety, panic and social phobia.
—Thomas Curwen, Los Angeles Times, 20 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for phobia 
Josh Schlossberg, The Denver Post, 22 Dec. 2024
Extreme phobia such as Velasquez’s is uncommon, but many people have a general fear of needles that makes vaccinations stressful or even impossible for them.
—Stephani Sutherland, Scientific American, 15 Oct. 2024
Khloé Kardashian, on the other hand, has been waiting much longer between piercings, and in that time has apparently developed a bit of a phobia.
—Marci Robin, Allure, 19 Nov. 2024
Intrigued by shyness, Zimbardo founded the Stanford Shyness Clinic to uncover the roots of anxiety, panic and social phobia.
—Thomas Curwen, Los Angeles Times, 20 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for phobia
Recent Examples of Synonyms for phobia
Noun
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People who are impacted by natural disaster may feel a strong sense of grief, panic, loss, fear and sadness, according to the University of Houston's Department of Psychology.—
Julia Jacobo,
ABC News,
17 Jan. 2025
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By the end of the 90-minute debate, those who had been able to bear sticking around were in a panic.—
Annie Karni,
New York Times,
17 Jan. 2025
Noun
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Already this year, members of the team were dispatched to New Orleans following the New Year’s terror attack and to Las Vegas in response to the Cybertruck explosion outside the Trump hotel.—
Eric Levenson,
CNN,
15 Jan. 2025
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Since the Hamas terror attacks of October 7, Canadian cities have been disgraced by anti-Semitic incidents of accelerating violence.—
David Frum,
The Atlantic,
15 Jan. 2025
Noun
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The film costars Jamie Foxx, who is making a comeback of his own after a startling 2023 health scare forced his retreat from acting.—
Ryan Coleman,
EW.com,
24 Jan. 2025
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Forget about sonic devices, essential oils, and other scare devices to repel chipmunks.—
Arricca Elin SanSone,
Southern Living,
22 Jan. 2025
Noun
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The situation caused Campbell a lot of anxiety, but became a pivotal shift in her perspective.—
Kait Hanson,
Glamour,
18 Jan. 2025
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Then the widespread anxiety spurred by a wave of high-profile robberies and the deadly home-invasion of Jacqueline Avant.—
Gary Baum,
The Hollywood Reporter,
18 Jan. 2025
Noun
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In a second Instagram Stories post, the singer offered another look at the cake, featuring a large bust of a clicker, the fungal zombie-esque frights from the Last of Us video game franchise and HBO series of the same name.—
Gil Macias,
People.com,
13 Jan. 2025
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The Vanishing will have no shortage of frights, action and bizarre phenomena.—
Nick Caruso,
TVLine,
7 Jan. 2025
Thesaurus Entries Near phobia
Cite this Entry
“Phobia.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/phobia. Accessed 30 Jan. 2025.
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