acrophobia

English

Etymology

From acro- +‎ -phobia.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊbiə

Noun

acrophobia (countable and uncountable, plural acrophobias)

1. phobia or strong fear of being high above ground level

   Synonyms: altophobia, fear of heights, height-fear

   • 1888, Association of American Railroads Accounting Division, Association of American Railroads, Accounting Division, Report of the Railway Accounting Officers:

     You know, being elevated to the position of Chairman has given me rather a bad attack of acrophobia.

   • 1956, Information Access Company, ProQuest Direct, Road and Track:

     But it's no place for anyone with acrophobia, what with its myriad drop-offs and switchbacks.

   • 2005, Kevin O'Brien, The Last Victim:

     You know, acrophobia? I get nervous just standing this close to the edge.

   • 2019 March 27, Understanding Acrophobia, or Fear of Heights‎^[1]:

     Acrophobia describes an intense fear of heights that can cause significant anxiety and panic.

   • 2019 September 12, Rosemary Black, Acrophobia (The Fear of Heights): Are You Acrophobic?‎^[2]:

     The definition of acrophobia is, simply put, a phobia of heights.

   • 2021 March 3, Sarah Bence, Steven Gans, MD (medical reviewer), What Is Acrophobia?‎^[3]:

     Acrophobia is a persistent and intense fear of heights. People with acrophobia will experience panic and sudden anxiety in a variety of situations involving heights.

   • 2020 July 27, What to know about acrophobia‎^[4]:

     Acrophobia is an intense fear of heights. If a person has acrophobia, being high up or thinking about heights may cause them to have a panic attack.

Antonyms

• bathophobia

Related terms

English terms prefixed with acro-

Translations

fear of heights

• Afrikaans: akrofobie
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: акрафобія f (akrafóbija), страх вышыні m (strax vyšyni), боязь вышыні f (bójazʹ vyšyni)
• Bikol Central: harog
• Bulgarian: страх от височина́ m (strah ot visočiná)
• Catalan: acrofòbia (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 懼高症／惧高症 (zh) (jùgāozhèng), 恐高症 (zh) (kǒnggāozhèng), 畏高症 (wèigāozhèng)

• Danish: højdeskræk c, akrofobi c
• Dutch: hoogtevrees (nl) f (informal), acrofobie (nl) f (formal)
• Finnish: korkean paikan kammo
• French: acrophobie (fr) f
• Georgian: აკროფობია (aḳropobia)
• German: Höhenangst (de) f, (learned) Akrophobie (de) f
• Hungarian: akrofóbia (hu), tériszony (hu)
• Irish: acrafóibe f
• Japanese: 高所恐怖症 (ja) (こうしょきょうふしょう, kōsho kyōfushō)
• Korean: 고소공포증 (ko) (gosogongpojeung), 높은 곳 공포증 (ko) (nopeun got gongpojeung)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: høydeskrekk (no) m, høgdeskrekk m, akrofobi (no) m

  Nynorsk: høgdeskrekk m, akrofobi m

• Polish: akrofobia (pl) f, lęk wysokości (pl) m
• Portuguese: acrofobia (pt) f
• Romanian: acrofobie (ro) f
• Russian: боя́знь высоты́ f (bojáznʹ vysotý), акрофо́бия (ru) f (akrofóbija)
• Swedish: akrofobi (sv) c, höjdskräck (sv) c (possibly less severe/pathological, like "fear of heights")
• Tagalog: lula, lagimlim
• Turkish: akrofobi (tr), yükseklik korkusu (tr)
• Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can

See also

• batophobia

Further reading

• Richard Lederer (1989) Crazy English: the ultimate joy ride through our language, New York: Pocket Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 59, →ISBN: “Here are more than two hundred additional words that describe the terrors that go bump in our mind: acrophobia: heights”