Meanings
- rareuncountableThe fear of losing a job.
As a result everything was done that men in an acute stage of "job fright" could do to discredit the new system.
1912, Business: The Magazine for Office Store and Factory2 more examples
Once seated, let the employer begin the interview. Turn back to the first of this chapter and read again about "job fright."
1933, Robert Otis Pickard, Your Job: How to Get it and how to Keep it, page 64The employees of both groups thought that the problems of job adjustment consisted of the following elements, in order of importance: job fright, customer contact, and the lack of adequate store and school training.
1949, Summaries of Ph. D. Dissertations Submitted to the Graduate School of Northwestern University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, volume 17
Origin
From job + fright, modelled after stage fright, speech fright, camera fright, etc.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
job fright. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/job%20fright
“job fright.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/job%20fright. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “job fright,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/job%20fright.
Source: job fright on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.