gelotophobia

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noun

An abnormal and persistent fear of being laughed at.

OriginAncient Greek γέλως →
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Meanings

noungelotophobia (uncountable)
  1. uncountableAn abnormal and persistent fear of being laughed at.

    Titze sees Gelotophobia as a clinical category, […]

    2008, Victor Raskin, The primer of humor research, page 54
    2 more examples

    Studies of gelotophobia. It turns out that gelotophobes have difficulty distinguishing between situations in which they are the butts of gentle mockery and those in which […]

    2011, Ted Gournelos, Viveca Greene, A Decade of Dark Humor, page 222

    […] associated with higher gelotophobia mean scores.

    2011, Luciano L'Abate, Hurt Feelings: Theory, Research, and Applications, page 68

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekγέλως“laughter”
  2. Englishgelotophobia

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek γέλως (gélōs, “laughter”) + -phobia.

More words from Ancient Greek

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

gelotophobia. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gelotophobia

MLA

“gelotophobia.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gelotophobia. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “gelotophobia,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gelotophobia.

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