frightmare

plural frightmares

1. informalSomeone or something extremely unattractive.

   Try and stick to only a few decorative elements, not a 'more is more' frightmare.

   2011, Camilla Morton, A Year in High Heels, →ISBN

   2 more examples

   It's a Dali-esque frightmare of liquescent forms, a pseudo-organic samplescape congested with scrofulous sound tentacles and slithery slimeshapes.

   2013, Simon Reynolds, Generation Ecstasy: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture, →ISBN

   'A cuddly six and a half. Yummier than that Wednesday Addams lookalike Günter's also taken on. Frightmare or what?'

   2014, David Mitchell, The Bone Clocks, →ISBN, page 143

2. An extremely unpleasant and frightening experience.

   Yes, that must have been the way it had happened, Gibby decided — just one long frightmare, part of it filmed in this bedroom.

   1974, Fritz Leiber, The book of Fritz Leiber, page 17

   2 more examples

   Wednesday morning, Jamie was pacing back and forth in the small kitchen when she decided that she didn't want to be alone after last night's frightmare.

   2011, Fern Michaels, Late Edition, →ISBN, page 223

   I sure hope so, I think nervously—because between my too tight costume, this too tight dressing room, and High Priestess Abala's too spooky Vampire Spell, this whole thing is turning into a New York frightmare!

   2014, Deborah Gregory, Hey, Ho, Hollywood!, →ISBN