Phrase guide

stage fright

noun · 3 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

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A state of nervousness about performing some action in front of a group of people, on or off of a stage; nerves; a lack of self-assurance before an audience.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Examples

  • I did some guest-speaking at the middle school last year, and I experienced some stage fright before and during my first presentation.
  • I got stage fright while doing a dance show for my school last year.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Synonym of paruresis.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: euphemistic, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: paruresis

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

fear that affects a person about to face an audience

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: fear, fearfulness, fright

History

Etymology

From stage + fright.

Across languages

Translations

45 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: رَهَاب المَسْرَح (rahāb al-masraḥ) — state of nervousness about performing
  • Armenian: վախ բեմից (vax bemicʻ) — state of nervousness about performing
  • Chinese Mandarin: 怯場 /怯场 (qièchǎng) — state of nervousness about performing
  • Czech: tréma — state of nervousness about performing
  • Danish: sceneskræk — state of nervousness about performing
  • Danish: lampefeber — state of nervousness about performing
  • Dutch: plankenkoorts — state of nervousness about performing
  • Esperanto: kulistimo — state of nervousness about performing
  • Estonian: esinemishirm — state of nervousness about performing
  • Estonian: glossofoobia — state of nervousness about performing
  • Finnish: ramppikuume — state of nervousness about performing
  • Finnish: esiintymiskuume — state of nervousness about performing
  • French: trac — state of nervousness about performing
  • German: Lampenfieber — state of nervousness about performing
  • German: Rampenfieber — state of nervousness about performing
  • Greek: άγχος (ánchos) — state of nervousness about performing
  • Hungarian: lámpaláz — state of nervousness about performing
  • Icelandic: sviðsskrekkur — state of nervousness about performing
  • Indonesian: demam panggung — state of nervousness about performing
  • Irish: scéin stáitse — state of nervousness about performing
  • Japanese: 舞台負け — state of nervousness about performing
  • Kannada: ಸಭಾಕಂಪ (sabhākampa) — state of nervousness about performing
  • Kannada: ರಂಗಭಯ (raṅgabhaya) — state of nervousness about performing
  • Korean: 무대공포증 (mudaegongpojeung) — state of nervousness about performing
  • Macedonian: трема (trema) — state of nervousness about performing
  • Malayalam: സഭാകമ്പം (sabhākampaṁ) — state of nervousness about performing
  • Māori: hanepī — state of nervousness about performing
  • Norwegian: sceneskrekk — state of nervousness about performing
  • Polish: trema — state of nervousness about performing
  • Portuguese: medo de palco — state of nervousness about performing
  • Romanian: trac — state of nervousness about performing
  • Russian: страх сце́ны (strax scény) — state of nervousness about performing
  • Russian: боя́знь сце́ны (bojáznʹ scény) — state of nervousness about performing
  • Scottish Gaelic: ireapais — state of nervousness about performing
  • Serbo-Croatian: трема — state of nervousness about performing
  • Serbo-Croatian: trema — state of nervousness about performing
  • Slovak: tréma — state of nervousness about performing
  • Spanish: miedo escénico — state of nervousness about performing
  • Spanish: pánico de tarima — state of nervousness about performing
  • Swedish: scenskräck — state of nervousness about performing
  • Swedish: rampfeber — state of nervousness about performing
  • Turkish: sahne heyecanı — state of nervousness about performing
  • Turkish: sahne korkusu — state of nervousness about performing
  • Ukrainian: сценічне хвилювання (scenične xvyljuvannja) — state of nervousness about performing
  • Ukrainian: сценофобія (scenofobija) — state of nervousness about performing