metathesiophobia

noun

The persistent, abnormal, and unwarranted fear of change.

Scrabble 28
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Meanings

nounmetathesiophobia (uncountable)
  1. rareuncountableThe persistent, abnormal, and unwarranted fear of change.

    Then, metathesiophobia, fear of change.

    2007, Susan Vaught, Big Fat Manifesto, →ISBN, page 145
    2 more examples

    There is a related fear, metathesiophobia, the fear of change.

    2008, Gérald Zaltman, Lindsay H. Zaltman, Marketing Metaphoria: What Deep Metaphors Reveal About the Minds of Consumers, →ISBN, page 4

    I felt myself growing dizzy. “I can't,” I whispered. “Meta . . . metathesiophobia.” Maggie sighed impatiently.

    2009, Amy Jones, What Boys Like: And Other Stories

Origin

See metathesis and -phobia.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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