Meanings
- uncountableThe fear of fear itself.
When unchecked, fear spawns a whole brood of phobias—fear of water, high places, closed rooms, darkness, loneliness, among others—and such an accumulation culminates in phobiaphobia or the fear of fear itself.
2012, Martin Luther King Jr., A Gift of Love: Sermons from Strength to Love and Other Preachings, page 1162 more examples
A lot of fears have already been named for us; such as acrophobia (fear of high places), agoraphobia (fear of open places), zoophobia (fear of animals), phobiaphobia (fear of fear), etc. You need not, however, be limited to those already named and catalogued.
Bill L. Little, Self-Destruction Made Easy (page 72)The arguments are familiar: the academy is for […] eliminating racism, sexism, homophobia, Islamophobia, transphobia, phobiaphobia, and prejudice in whatever form today's fevered imaginariums of offence can conjure.
2017, Dennis Hayes, Beyond McDonaldization: Visions of Higher Education, page 53Synonyms: phobophobia
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe fear of fear itself.
Origin
Cite this entry
phobiaphobia. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/phobiaphobia
“phobiaphobia.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/phobiaphobia. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “phobiaphobia,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/phobiaphobia.
Source: phobiaphobia on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.