This fear vocabulary lesson will help you use the words fear, phobia, panic, dread, mania, cold sweat, daunting, irrational and petrified, correctly.
(–) fear uncountable noun the feeling that you have when you are frightened
- I was able to beat my fear of the dark.
(a) phobia noun an extreme fear of something
- I have a phobia of owls that stops me going into the forest at night.
panic verb a sudden strong feeling of fear that stops normal thoughts and actions
- We were winning 2-1, but in the ninetieth minute I started to panic.
dread verb to feel very worried or frightened about something that is going to happen or that might happen
- I started to dread my visit to the hospital.
(a) mania noun a very strong interest in something when a person cannot think of anything else
- He has a mania about the woman next door.
(a) cold sweat singular noun extreme worry and fear that causes you to sweat although you feel cold
- When I think of spiders I break out in a cold sweat.
daunting adjective something that makes you worried because you think that it will be very difficult or dangerous to do
- The last part of the climb was daunting.
irrational adjective not logical or reasonable
- I have an irrational fear of rabbits.
petrified adjective extremely frightened and unable to move
- She is absolutely petrified of people wearing masks.
Now watch the video lesson and then do the Fear · exercise