nightmare

Meaning

Noun

1. A very bad or frightening dream.
2. Any bad, miserable, difficult or terrifying situation or experience that arouses anxiety, terror, agony or great displeasure.
3. A demon or monster, thought to plague people while they slept and cause a feeling of suffocation and terror during sleep.
4. A feeling of extreme anxiety or suffocation experienced during sleep; Sleep paralysis.

Verb

1. To experience a nightmare.
2. To imagine (someone or something) as in a nightmare.
3. To trouble (someone or something), as by a nightmare.

Synonyms

incubus

bad dream

horror

toss and turn

oneirodynia

paroniria

night-hag

goblin

riding-hag

mare

bete noire

Translations

pesadilla

cauchemar

Albtraum

Alptraum

nachtmerrie

Alpdruck

Nachtmahr

incubus

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈnaɪt.mɛə/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: night-mare

Inherited from Old English: *nihtmare

Cognate with Scots: nichtmare

Cognate with Dutch: nachtmerrie

Cognate with Middle Low German: nachtmār

Cognate with German: Nachtmahr

In summary

From Middle English night-mare, from Old English *nihtmare, equivalent to night + mare (“evil spirit believed to afflict a sleeping person”). Cognate with Scots nichtmare and nichtmeer, Dutch nachtmerrie, Middle Low German nachtmār, German Nachtmahr.

Sentences

Their main enemy is the Nightmare Prince .