terror

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“
Rising generations must be brought up in superstitious terror, in order to render them susceptible to every kind of absurdity; for this terror is the powerful spring, employed by the priests and friars, to move at their pleasure families, cities, provinces, nations.

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Definitions (16)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (5)

  1. noun Intense, overpowering fear. See Synonyms at fear.
  2. noun One that instills intense fear: a rabid dog that became the terror of the neighborhood.
  3. noun The ability to instill intense fear: the terror of jackboots pounding down the street.
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Examples (50)

  • When the first paroxysm of his terror was at its height, the evening after he had witnessed the execution, I believe he would gladly have confessed the whole, if he could have found a white man sober enough to listen to him. —  The White Slave; or, Memoirs of a Fugitive
  • The smell of her terror was the most potent aphrodisiac he had ever known, beyond anything he could have dreamed of in his most erotic youthful fantasy. —  Prince of the Night
  • But mingled with the terror was a strange exhilaration, born of defiance and the knowledge that, no matter how futile the outcome might be, I was at last pitting my skills against our enemies. —  Carey, Jaqueline - Kushiel's Dart orig
  • It dawned on me that while I might not consider the reasons for her panic legitimate or real, her terror was absolutely real. —  A Motley Vision
  • The green leaf represents beauty, but unstated and by implication the terror is the flaming leaf, literally a taper, falling wherever in ember attack.
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Suggestions Wordniks Suggest

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

horror ·  anger ·  anxiety ·  dread ·  joy ·  panic ·  shame ·  shock ·  wonder ·  dismay

Used in the same contextWord Family

terror:   terrors
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English terrour, from Old French terreur, from Latin terror, from terrēre, to frighten.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Formerly also terrour; from French terreur = Provencal Spanish Portuguese terror = Italian terrore, from Latin terror, great fear, dread, terror, from terrere, put in fear, frighten, make afraid.
  2. from terror, n.
 

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/ˈtɛrɑr/
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