FOBO

F4O1B3O1

Initialism of fear of a better option.

Scrabble 9
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Meanings

nounFOBO (uncountable)
  1. abbreviationinitialismslanguncountableInitialism of fear of a better option.

    Try choosing a large cap mutual fund and you will experience a FOBO.

    2021, Sandeep Sahni, Sanjit Singh Paul, What My MBA Did Not Teach Me About Money, Notion Press, →ISBN
    2 more examples

    The whole thing actually started with FOBO, or Fear of a Better Option. It was the term I came up with to explain the fact that everyone I knew at school was always looking for something better.

    2016, Patrick J. McGinnis, The 10% Entrepreneur, Penguin, →ISBN

    […] others referred to option paralysis (a term popularized by Black Mirror); still others invoked FOBO (“fear of a better option”).

    2018 November 13, Kate Julian, “Why Are Young People Having So Little Sex?”, in The Atlantic
  2. abbreviationinitialismrareuncountableInitialism of fear of bad outcomes.

    I have since adopted this strategy for myself to defuse FOBO. “Wouldn't it be nice if my presentation today went well!”

    2021, Poppy Jamie, Happy Not Perfect, Harmony/Rodale, →ISBN

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

booffoob
Cite this entry
APA

FOBO. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/FOBO

MLA

“FOBO.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/FOBO. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “FOBO,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/FOBO.

Source: FOBO on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.