Meanings
- uncountableThe fear of staircases or of falling down stairs.
Lucy: Are you afraid of staircases? If you are, then you have climacophobia.
1965, Charles M. Schulz, A Charlie Brown Christmas, 05:46-05:512 more examples
I myself have recently developed mild climacophobia (fear of falling downstairs). Don't know why, but I'm convinced that someday I'll fall down a flight of stairs and hurt myself badly.
2001 August 16, Leigh Butler, “TAN: Phobias (was Re: TAN: Summer Reading recommendations)”, in rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan (Usenet)I once knew a tall kyphophobic man, Who was sick of stooping so low; Sadly he developed climacophobia, When he moved from his bungalow.
2004, Natalie Kristina Goldstraw, “Phobos”, in Superlative: Echoes of the Postmodern Condition, Trafford Publishing, →ISBN, page 103Synonyms: bathmophobia
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe fear of staircases or of falling down stairs.
Origin
- Ancient Greekφόβος“fear”
- New Latin-phobia
- Ancient Greekκλῖμαξ“ladder, staircase”
- Englishclimacophobia
From Ancient Greek κλῖμαξ (klîmax, “ladder, staircase”) + New Latin -phobia, from Ancient Greek φόβος (phóbos, “fear”).
More words from Ancient Greek, New Latin
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
climacophobia. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/climacophobia
“climacophobia.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/climacophobia. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “climacophobia,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/climacophobia.
Source: climacophobia on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.