nyc·to·pho·bi·a

(nĭk′tə-fō′bē-ə)

An abnormal fear of the night or darkness. Also called scotophobia.

[Greek nux, nukt-, night; see nyctalopia + -phobia.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

nyctophobia

(ˌnɪktəʊˈfəʊbɪə)

(Psychiatry) psychiatry an abnormal dread of night or darkness

[nyct-, from Greek nukt-, nux night + -phobia]

ˌnyctoˈphobic adj

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

nyctophobia

an abnormal fear of darkness or night.

See also: Darkness

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

nyctophobia - a morbid fear of night or darkness

simple phobia - any phobia (other than agoraphobia) associated with relatively simple well-defined stimuli

Translations

Nyktophobie

Mentioned in

References in periodicals archive

'Phasmophobia' is the fear of ghosts, 'wiccaphobia' is the fear of witchcraft and 'nyctophobia' is the fear of darkness.

Halloween: spookiest night of the year

Also, there is a third list that contains our phobias from claustrophobia (morbid dread of close spaces) to agoraphobia (morbid dread of open spaces), from aquaphobia (morbid dread of water) to pyrophobia (morbid dread of fire) and from astraphobia (morbid dread of lighting) to nyctophobia (morbid dread of darkness).

We all live in fear

Some children with nyctophobia or intense fear of the dark may have coping mechanisms to overcome their fear.

How to treat extreme fear of the dark

For example, when she was ten years old, she was seriously ill with pneumonia and in order for her to receive the best care, she was sent to a sanatorium far away from home where she had to sleep alone for a whole year, experiencing nyctophobia (fear of the dark) and witnessed many people pass away around her because of pneumonia.

"Being Singular Plural" in Chi's (The Great-Flowing River)

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