NIGHTMARE

nightmare

(noun) a terrifying or deeply upsetting dream

nightmare, incubus

(noun) a situation resembling a terrifying dream

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

nightmare (plural nightmares)

(now rare) A demon or monster, thought to plague people while they slept and cause a feeling of suffocation and terror during sleep.

(obsolete) Sleep paralysis.

A very bad or frightening dream.

(figuratively) Any bad, miserable, difficult or terrifying situation or experience that arouses anxiety, terror, agony or great displeasure.

Synonyms

• (demon said to torment sleepers): incubus, succubus, night hag

Source: Wiktionary


Night"mare`, n. Etym: [Night + mare incubus. See Mare incubus.]

1. A fiend or incubus formerly supposed to cause trouble in sleep.

2. A condition in sleep usually caused by improper eating or by digestive or nervous troubles, and characterized by a sense of extreme uneasiness or discomfort (as of weight on the chest or stomach, impossibility of motion or speech, etc.), or by frightful or oppressive dreams, from which one wakes after extreme anxiety, in a troubled state of mind; incubus. Dunglison.

3. Hence, any overwhelming, oppressive, or stupefying influence.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

22 April 2025

BRIGHT

(adjective) made smooth and bright by or as if by rubbing; reflecting a sheen or glow; “bright silver candlesticks”; “a burnished brass knocker”; “she brushed her hair until it fell in lustrous auburn waves”; “rows of shining glasses”; “shiny black patents”


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Coffee Trivia

In 1884, Angelo Moriondo of Turin, Italy, demonstrated the first working example of an espresso machine.

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