noun · verb · 9 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
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Received-Pronunciation:/ˈnaɪt.mɛə/
General-American:/ˈnaɪt.mɛɚ/
General-American:[nʌɪʔ.mɛəɹ]
US:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
CMU ARPABET:N AY1 T M EH2 R
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
A very unpleasant or frightening dream.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
I had a nightmare that I tried to run but could neither move nor breathe.
July 18 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Dark Knight Riseshttp://www.avclub.com/articles/the-dark-knight-rises-review-batman,82624/ With his crude potato-sack mask and fear-inducing toxins, The Scarecrow, a “psychopharmacologist” at an insane asylum, acts as a conjurer of nightmares, capable of turning his patients’ most terrifying anxieties against them.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
Any bad, miserable, difficult or terrifying situation or experience that arouses anxiety, terror, agony or great displeasure.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively
Examples
Cleaning up after identity theft can be a nightmare of phone calls and letters.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
A demon or monster, thought to plague people while they slept and cause a feeling of suffocation and terror during sleep.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: archaic
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
4
noun
Meaning 4
A feeling of extreme anxiety or suffocation experienced during sleep; sleep paralysis.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: historical
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
5
verb
Meaning 5
To experience a nightmare.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
6
verb
Meaning 6
To imagine (someone or something) as in a nightmare.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
7
verb
Meaning 7
To trouble (someone or something), as by a nightmare.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
8
noun
Meaning 8
a terrifying or deeply upsetting dream
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: dream, dreaming
9
noun
Meaning 9
a situation resembling a terrifying dream
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: incubus
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: situation
History
Etymology
From Middle English nyghtmare, 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.
Across languages
Translations
241 source translations are retained for this English entry.
