nightmare
- 01 B1 Intermediate
a very frightening or upsetting dream that happens while you are asleep.
a distressing or terrifying dream that typically causes the sleeper to wake suddenly in a state of anxiety.
Simple“The child woke up crying after having a nightmare about getting lost.”
In context“Recurrent nightmares are often cited as a primary symptom of post-traumatic stress, frequently disrupting the patient's REM cycle and overall sleep quality.”
Synonyms - 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
a very difficult, unpleasant, or disorganized situation in real life.
a metaphorically terrifying or extremely unpleasant experience, often characterized by chaos, frustration, or bureaucratic difficulty.
Simple“The traffic was a total nightmare and it took us three hours to get home.”
In context“Navigating the legal requirements for the international merger proved to be a bureaucratic nightmare that exhausted the company's legal department.”
- 03 C2 Proficiency
in old stories, a monster or spirit that people believed sat on them while they slept.
a malevolent spirit or monster in folklore formerly believed to produce a feeling of suffocation in sleeping victims.
Simple“Ancient legends spoke of a nightmare that would haunt the village at night.”
In context“The painting depicts the nightmare as a heavy, crouched creature sitting upon the chest of a sleeping woman, reflecting eighteenth-century superstitions regarding sleep paralysis.”
Synonymsincubusdemon
“Over the last 20 years, Helen has tried to move on from Berry-Dee’s crimes, but she cannot escape the nightmares about those months in the art school.”
“That short supply means retailers may soon start stocking "sun-tanned" cauliflower because "their biggest nightmare is empty shelves", she said.”
Middle English nyghtmare is a straightforward compound: Old English niht “night” + mare “a succubus that settles on the sleeper’s chest and rides the breath out of the body.” The creature was female, weighty, and discourteous; her visit left the victim gasping, paralysed, and convinced that death had spent the night on the counterpane.
The word crossed the North Sea with its baggage intact: Dutch nachtmerrie, Middle Low German nachtmār, modern German Nachtmahr. Each language kept the identical arrangement—darkness first, demon second—so the nightmare has held the same shift pattern since at the latest the tenth century.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.