nightmare

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle English nightemare, niȝtmare, equivalent to night +‎ mare (“evil spirit believed to afflict a sleeping person”). Cognate with Scots nichtmare, nichtmeer (“nightmare”), Dutch nachtmerrie (“nightmare”), Middle Low German nachtmār (“nightmare”), German Nachtmahr (“nightmare”).

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• IPA: /naɪt.meəɹ/

Noun

nightmare (plural nightmares)

1. (now rare) A female demon or monster, thought to plague people while they slept and cause a feeling of suffocation and terror during sleep.
   • 1817, Walter Scott, Rob Roy:

     It haunted me, however, more than once, like the nightmare.

2. A very bad or frightening dream.

   I had a nightmare that I tried to run but could neither move nor breathe.

   • July 18 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Dark Knight Rises[1]

     With his crude potato-sack mask and fear-inducing toxins, The Scarecrow, a “psychopharmacologist” at an insane asylum, acts as a conjurer of nightmares, capable of turning his patients’ most terrifying anxieties against them.

3. (figuratively) Any bad, miserable, difficult or terrifying situation or experience that arouses anxiety, terror, agony or great displeasure.

   Cleaning up after identity theft can be a nightmare of phone calls and letters.

Synonyms

• (demon said to torment sleepers): incubus (male demon afflicting female sleeper), succubus
• (bad dream): night terror (sleep disorder)

Related terms

• nightmarish

Translations

a very bad or frightening dream

• Afrikaans: nagmerrie (af)
• Albanian: ankth (sq)
• Arabic: كابوس (ar) (kābūs) m

  Egyptian Arabic: كابوس (kabuus) m

• Armenian: մղձավանջ (hy) (mġjavanǰ)
• Asturian: velea (ast), pesadiella (ast)
• Basque: amesgaizto (eu)
• Bengali: দুঃস্বপ্ন (bn) (duḥsbôpnô), কুস্বপ্ন (bn) (kusbôpnô)
• Catalan: malson (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 噩夢 (cmn), 噩梦 (cmn) (èmèng), 惡夢 (cmn), 恶梦 (cmn) (èmèng)

• Corsican: sunniacciu (co), sonniacciu (co), sugnacciu (co)
• Czech: noční můra (cs) f
• Danish: mareridt (da) n
• Dutch: nachtmerrie (nl) f
• Esperanto: sonĝaĉo (eo), koŝmaro (eo), inkubo (eo), premsonĝo (eo)
• Estonian: õudusunenägu (et), košmaar (et)
• Faroese: marra (fo) f
• Finnish: painajainen (fi)
• French: cauchemar (fr) m, mauvais rêve (fr), mauvais rêve (fr) m
• Friulian: čhalčhut
• Galician: pesadelo (gl)
• Georgian: კოშმარი (ka) (košmari), მაჯლაჯუნა (ka) (madžladžuna)
• German: Albtraum (de) m, Alptraum (de) m, (dated) Albdruck (de) m, Nachtmahr (de) f
• Greek: εφιάλτης (el) (efiáltis) m
• Gujarati: દુઃસ્વપ્ન (gu) (duḥsvapna)
• Hawaiian: moehewa
• Hebrew: סִיּוּט (he) (siyút) m
• Hindi: दुःस्वप्न (hi) (duḥsapn) m, कुस्वप्न (hi) (kusapn) m
• Hungarian: lidércnyomás (hu), rémálom (hu)
• Icelandic: martröð (is) f
• Indonesian: mimpi buruk (id)
• Irish: tromluí (ga) m
• Italian: incubo (it) m, brutto sogno (it)
• Japanese: 悪夢 (ja) (あくむ, akumu)
• Jèrriais: ponserêsse f
• Khmer: សប្តិ​អាក្រក់ (km) (sopdteu aagrok), ទុសុបិន (km) (dtosobeun)
• Korean: 악몽 (ko) (akmong) (惡夢 (ko))
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: خه‌وی ناخۆش (ku)

• Ladin: strassomech, trota
• Latin: incubus (la), incubo (la) f
• Latvian: murgi (lv)
• Lithuanian: košmaras (lt)
• Low German: Alpdröm (nds)
• Lower Sorbian: mórawa
• Luhya: liroro libi
• Luxembourgish: Alpdram (lb) m
• Macedonian: кошмар (mk) (košmar) m
• Maori: moepapa (mi), moenanu (mi)
• Mongolian: аймшиг (mn) (aymšig)
• Norwegian: mareritt (no) n
• Ojibwe: giiwanaadingwaam, zegingwashi
• Old English: ælfādl (ang) f
• Persian: کابوس (fa) (kâbus)
• Polish: koszmar (pl) m
• Portuguese: pesadelo (pt) m
• Romanian: coșmar (ro) n
• Romansch: dischariel (rm), derschalet (rm), darschalet (rm), dischöl (rm), fulet (rm), ischier (rm)
• Russian: кошмар (ru) (košmár) m, страшный сон (ru) (strášnyj son) m
• Sanskrit: दुःस्वप्न (sa) (duḥsvapna) m
• Scottish Gaelic: mearan-cadail (gd), trom-laighe (gd)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ноћна мора (sh) f, кошмар (sh) m

  Roman: noćna mora (sh) f, košmar (sh) m

• Shan: ၽၼ်ႁၢႆႉ (pʰan1 haaj5)
• Slovak: nočná mora (sk) f, nočný motýľ (sk) m
• Spanish: pesadilla (es) f
• Swahili: jinamizi (sw) (noun 5/6)
• Swedish: mardröm (sv) c
• Tagalog: bangungot (tl)
• Tamil: அமுக்கி (ta) (amukki)
• Thai: ฝันร้าย (th) (făn ráai)
• Turkish: kâbus (tr), karabasan (tr)
• Urdu: کابوس (ur) (kābūs) m, کسوپن (ur) (kusapn) m
• Vietnamese: ác mộng (vi) (惡夢 (vi))
• Volapük: kojmar (vo)
• Walloon: tchôcmwår (wa) m
• Welsh: hunllef (cy) f
• Yiddish: בײַזער חלום (yi) (bayzer kholem) m

a bad or difficult experience

• Armenian: մղձավանջ (hy) (mġjavanǰ)
• Czech: noční můra (cs) f
• Esperanto: travivaĉo (eo)
• Finnish: painajainen (fi)
• French: cauchemar (fr) m
• German: Albtraum (de) m, Alptraum (de) m
• Greek: εφιάλτης (el) (efiáltis) m
• Icelandic: martröð (is) f, hryllingur (is) m
• Italian: incubo (it) m
• Japanese: 悪夢 (ja) (akumu)

• Norwegian: mareritt (no) n
• Polish: koszmar (pl) m
• Portuguese: pesadelo (pt)
• Romanian: coșmar (ro) n
• Russian: кошмар (ru) (košmár) m
• Spanish: pesadilla (es) f
• Swahili: jinamizi (sw)
• Swedish: mardröm (sv) c
• Turkish: kâbus (tr)
• Volapük: kojmar (vo)