claustrophobia love

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An abnormal fear of being in narrow or enclosed spaces.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In pathology, a morbid dread of confined places, to which hysterical and neurasthenic persons are sometimes subject. See agoraphobia.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The fear of closed, tight places.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a morbid fear of being closed in a confined space

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin claustrum, enclosed place; see cloister + –phobia.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin claustrum "a shut in place," from claudere "to close" + Greek phobos "fear." First attested in the British Medical Journal.

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Examples

  • Interestingly enough, I barely touched the science fiction -- I picked up a Jack Vance novel, audiobook versions of David Brin's Sundiver and Frederik Pohl's The Voices Of Heaven, and something else, but I leaned much more towards the thriller end of the spectrum -- the Deighton books, obviously, but also a couple of Adam Hall's Quiller novels (these are re-reads, mind you), Michael DiMercurio's Threat Vector and Patrick Robinson's Kilo Class (I have quite a fondness for submarine stories, which I find quite amusing given that my claustrophobia is severe enough that I can't stand being in one for even five seconds; I went aboard a WWII sub in San Francisco and clocked an end to end speed that might have been a world record -- people swore I went up the exit ladder without actually touching the rungs) and so forth.

    Sometimes I wake up and wonder what world this is tru2myart 2008

  • I arrived on American soil yesterday afternoon, after spending longer on a plane than is recommended for anybody whose reaction to claustrophobia is to poke her neighbors in the eyes.

    bluemeany Diary Entry bluemeany 2006

  • What Erdrich knows is that this history, built up over generations, yields a kind of claustrophobia that has only one cure: Leave.

    The Plague of Doves: Summary and book reviews of The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich. 2008

  • The approach reinforces the claustrophobia which is the dominant atmosphere of the novel.

    Archive 2008-04-01 Tim Stretton 2008

  • The approach reinforces the claustrophobia which is the dominant atmosphere of the novel.

    :Acquired Taste Tim Stretton 2008

  • ABLOW: This isn ` t like any kind of claustrophobia I ` ve ever treated, because apparently being confined actually makes it go away, when it should -- by all accounts, it should make it much more severe.

    CNN Transcript Jun 28, 2007 2007

  • Used as he was to open cockpits he was also con - scious of a kind of claustrophobia under the hood of the streamlined monoplane, and he remembers being delighted some days after the first flight, when the hood suddenly blew off over Cobham and was never seen again.

    The HurricaneStory Gallico, Paul 1959

  • It was curious, this instinctive aversion she felt to being shut in -- by trees especially; a kind of claustrophobia almost; probably due, as has been said, to the days in India when the trees took her husband off and surrounded him with dangers.

    The Man Whom the Trees Loved Algernon Blackwood 1910

  • Both films induced a kind of claustrophobia in me, for different reasons.

    Macleans.ca 2010

  • Black metal has a way of being confining - all of those hammering, one-on-top-of-the-other riffs create a kind of claustrophobia that, while essential to the music's overall tone of panic, can be a bit exhausting over long stretches.

    17 dots 2009

Comments

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  • a morbid fear of Santa

    November 12, 2007

  • This I love (with sionnach's definition).

    November 12, 2007

  • I understand this is actually quite common in kids.

    EDIT: sionnach's definition.

    November 12, 2007

  • Very seasonal (almost)!

    November 12, 2007