terror
n. C / Un. a feeling of very strong fear. It can also describe a person or thing that causes this fear or behaves very badly.
n. a state of intense, overwhelming fear or the person or thing that inspires such a sensation. Often used in political contexts to describe the systematic use of violence to achieve psychological effects.
The loud explosion filled the crowd with terror.
The regime used state-sponsored terror to silence political opponents and maintain absolute control over the population.
Historians often distinguish between the spontaneous violence of the revolution and the organized terror implemented by the committee to consolidate its fragile authority.
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *tres- Proto-Indo-European *-yeti Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti Proto-Indo-European *troséyeti Proto-Italic *trozeō Latin terreō Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *-ōs Proto-Italic *-ōs Latin -or Latin terrorbor. Old French terreur Middle French terreurbor. Middle English terrour English terror From late Middle English terrour, from Old French terreur f (“terror, fear, dread”), from Latin terror m (“fright, fear, terror”), from terrēre (“to frighten, terrify”), from Old Latin tr̥reō, from Proto-Italic trozeō, from Proto-Indo-European tre- (“to shake”), *tres- (“to tremble”).
Uncountable when referring to the emotion of extreme fear; countable when referring to a person (often a child) who is difficult to control.