nightmare

About 4.18 uses per million words.

Meaning

1. noun A very unpleasant or frightening dream. .mw-parser-output .defdate{font-size:smaller}

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

2. noun 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.

3. noun A demon or monster, thought to plague people while they slept and cause a feeling of suffocation and terror during sleep.
4. noun A feeling of extreme anxiety or suffocation experienced during sleep; sleep paralysis.
5. verb To experience a nightmare.
6. verb To imagine (someone or something) as in a nightmare.
7. verb To trouble (someone or something), as by a nightmare.

Similar words

incubus oneirodynia horror ordeal misery bane dream spectre hell bear

Often followed by

of for that and in to was is on

Word family

nightmares nightmarish nightmarishly