NIGHTMARE

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

I. (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A terrifying or deeply upsetting dream

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("nightmare" is a kind of...):

dream; dreaming (a series of mental images and emotions occurring during sleep)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A situation resembling a terrifying dream

Synonyms:

incubus; nightmare

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("nightmare" is a kind of...):

situation (a complex or critical or unusual difficulty)

Credits

Context examples:

He came out of a doze that was half nightmare, to see the red-hued she- wolf before him.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

I know that it will seem then to be some wild nightmare, some delirium of fever.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Or else it looked as if it had gradually decomposed into that nightmare condition, out of the overflowings of the polluted stream.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

An abnormal disruption of sleep, such as sleep walking, sleep talking, nightmares, bedwetting, sleep apnea (problems with breathing that cause loud snoring), or nighttime seizures.

(Parasomnia, NCI Dictionary)

To see him leap and run and pursue me over hedge and ditch was the worst of nightmares.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Towards morning I was possessed by a kind of nightmare; I felt the fiend’s grasp in my neck and could not free myself from it; groans and cries rang in my ears.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAMA) Insomnia; difficulty falling asleep, broken sleep, unsatisfying sleep and fatigue on waking, dreams, nightmares, night terrors.

(HAMA - Insomnia, NCI Thesaurus)

It aspires to being a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heartaches and nightmares are left out.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

A sleep disorder characterized by the repeated occurrence of frightening dreams which precipitate awakenings from sleep; on awakening, the individual becomes fully alert and oriented and has detailed recall of the nightmare, which usually involves imminent danger or extreme embarrassment to the individual.

(Nightmare Disorder, NCI Thesaurus)

Not for nothing had I been called “Sissy” Van Weyden, I thought, as I tossed restlessly on my bunk between one nightmare and another.