Meanings
- uncountableUnfounded fear surrounding the outbreak of COVID-19, which may include fear of the spread of the virus or fear of governmental conspiracies in the reaction to the virus.
Leaving home felt risky at first, our senses haunted by coronoia, the daily infodemic, the doughnut dreams. (Hang on - where's my mask?) Since often we'd forget that sacred cloth, suffering a brain fade on the doormat, enforcing a respirouette.
2021 November 6, “Coronaspeak so contagious it'll outlast covidiots”, in Sydney Morning Herald, page 111 more example
Writing this piece, just when I thought I needed to forge a new word ‘Coronoia’, to suitably denote the exponential spread of irrational fears of this novel virus, I found that it has recently been suggested to the Collins dictionary, and is under consideration.
[2020 April 18, Anita Rampal, “We Are Fighting an Infodemic in the Time of 'Coronoia'”, in The Wire
Origin
Cite this entry
coronoia. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coronoia
“coronoia.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coronoia. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “coronoia,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coronoia.
Source: coronoia on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.