Alternative forms

• terrour (obsolete or hypercorrect)

Etymology

From late Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#TERRORCategory:English terms derived from Middle English#TERROR terrour, from Old FrenchCategory:English terms derived from Old French#TERROR terreur f (“terror, fear, dread”), from LatinCategory:English terms derived from Latin#TERROR terror m (“fright, fear, terror”), from terrēre (“to frighten, terrify”), from Old LatinCategory:English terms derived from Old Latin#TERROR tr̥reō, from Proto-ItalicCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Italic#TERROR *trozeō, from Proto-Indo-EuropeanCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European#TERROR *tre- (“to shake”), *tres- (“to tremble”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtɛɹ.ɚ/Category:English 2-syllable words#TERRORCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#TERROR
  • (some accents) IPA^(key): /tɛɚ/Category:English 2-syllable words#TERRORCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#TERROR

  • Audio (US); /ˈtɛɹ.ɚ/:

    (file)

    Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#TERROR
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtɛ.ɹə/Category:English 2-syllable words#TERRORCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#TERROR
• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈte.ɹə/Category:English 2-syllable words#TERRORCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#TERROR
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˈtɛ.ɹəɹ/Category:English 2-syllable words#TERRORCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#TERROR
• (Philadelphia, merry–Murray merger) IPA^(key): /ˈtʌ.ɹɚ/Category:English 2-syllable words#TERRORCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#TERROR
• Rhymes: -ɛɹə(ɹ), -ɛə(ɹ)Category:Rhymes:English/ɛɹə(ɹ)#TERRORCategory:Rhymes:English/ɛɹə(ɹ)/2 syllables#TERRORCategory:Rhymes:English/ɛə(ɹ)#TERRORCategory:Rhymes:English/ɛə(ɹ)/1 syllable#TERROR
• Hyphenation: ter‧ror
• Homophones: tare, tearCategory:English terms with homophones#TERROR (some American accents)
• Homophones: terra, Terra (both non-rhotic); tearer (Mary–marry–merry merger)Category:English terms with homophones#TERROR

Noun

terror (countable and uncountable, plural terrors)Category:English lemmas#TERRORCategory:English nouns#TERRORCategory:English uncountable nouns#TERRORCategory:English countable nouns#TERRORCategory:English countable nouns#TERRORCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#TERRORCategory:Pages with entries#TERRORCategory:Pages with 12 entries#TERROR

1. (countableCategory:English countable nouns#TERROR, uncountableCategory:English uncountable nouns#TERROR) Intense dread, fright, or fear.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:fear

   • 1794, William Godwin, Things as they are; or, The adventures of Caleb:

     The terrors with which I was seized […] were extreme.

     Category:English terms with quotations#TERROR

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned
   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

     "How thinkest thou that I rule this people? I have but a regiment of guards to do my bidding, therefore it is not by force. It is by terror. My empire is of the imagination."

     Category:English terms with quotations#TERROR

   • 1963, C.L.R. James, The Black Jacobins, 2nd Revised edition, page 9:

     Fear of their cargo bred a savage cruelty into the crew. One captain, to strike terror into the rest, killed a slave and dividing heart, liver and entrails into 300 pieces made each of the slaves eat one, threatening those who refused with the same torture. Such incidents were not rare.

     Category:English terms with quotations#TERROR

2. (uncountableCategory:English uncountable nouns#TERROR) The action or quality of causing dread; terribleness, especially such qualities in narrative fiction.
   • 1921, Edith Birkhead, The tale of terror: a study of the Gothic romance:Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned
3. (countableCategory:English countable nouns#TERROR) Something or someone that causes such fear.
   • 1788 June, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, “Mr. Sheridan’s Speech, on Summing Up the Evidence on the Second, or Begum Charge against Warren Hastings, Esq., Delivered before the High Court of Parliament, June 1788”, in Select Speeches, Forensick and Parliamentary, with Prefatory Remarks by N[athaniel] Chapman, M.D., volume I, [Philadelphia, Pa.]: Published by Hopkins and Earle, no. 170, Market Street, published 1808, →OCLC, page 474:

     The Begums' ministers, on the contrary, to extort from them the disclosure of the place which concealed the treasures, were, […] after being fettered and imprisoned, led out on to a scaffold, and this array of terrours proving unavailing, the meek tempered Middleton, as a dernier resort, menaced them with a confinement in the fortress of Chunargar. Thus, my lords, was a British garrison made the climax of cruelties!

     Category:English terms with quotations#TERROR

   • 1841, Ralph Waldo Emerson, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

     The terrors of the storm

     Category:English terms with quotations#TERROR

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned
   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

     A chap named Eleazir Kendrick and I had chummed in together the summer afore and built a fish-weir and shanty at Setuckit Point, down Orham way. For a spell we done pretty well. Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand.

     Category:English terms with quotations#TERROR

4. (uncountableCategory:English uncountable nouns#TERROR) Terrorism.

   a terror attackCategory:English terms with usage examples#TERROR

   the War on TerrorCategory:English terms with usage examples#TERROR

   • 2019 July 15, Greg Afinogenov, “The Jewish Case for Open Borders”, in Jewish Currents‎, number Summer 2019:

     Rank-and-file progressives don’t usually think of the immigration policies they support—expanding refugee quotas, easing restrictions on some classes of immigrants, and ending family separation—as an endorsement of detention, deportation, and racialized terror.

     Category:English terms with quotations#TERROR

5. (pathologyCategory:en:Pathology#TERROR, countableCategory:English countable nouns#TERROR) A night terror.

Adjective

terror (comparative more terror, superlative most terror)Category:English lemmas#TERRORCategory:English adjectives#TERRORCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#TERRORCategory:Pages with entries#TERRORCategory:Pages with 12 entries#TERROR

1. (PhilippinesCategory:Philippine English#TERROR, slangCategory:English slang#TERROR) A strict teacher who fails most of the students.

   I have a terror math teacher.Category:English terms with usage examples#TERROR

References

• “terror”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• terror in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• “terror”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “terror”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Anagrams

• rorter

Etymology

(Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)Category:Requests for references for etymologies in Catalan entries#TERROR Borrowed from LatinCategory:Catalan terms borrowed from Latin#TERRORCategory:Catalan terms derived from Latin#TERROR terrōrem m.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [təˈror]Category:Catalan terms with IPA pronunciation#TERROR
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [təˈro]Category:Catalan terms with IPA pronunciation#TERROR
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [teˈroɾ]Category:Catalan terms with IPA pronunciation#TERROR

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

  Category:Catalan terms with audio pronunciation#TERROR

Noun

terror m or (archaic, regional or poetic) f (plural terrors)Category:Catalan lemmas#TERRORCategory:Catalan nouns#TERRORCategory:Catalan countable nouns#TERRORCategory:Catalan feminine nouns with no feminine ending#TERRORCategory:Catalan entries with incorrect language header#TERRORCategory:Catalan masculine nouns#TERRORCategory:Catalan feminine nouns#TERRORCategory:Catalan nouns with multiple genders#TERRORCategory:Pages with entries#TERRORCategory:Pages with 12 entries#TERROR

1. terror, horror

Etymology

Via EnglishCategory:Danish terms borrowed from English#TERRORCategory:Danish terms derived from English#TERROR, from LatinCategory:Danish terms derived from Latin#TERROR terror.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈtæɐ̯ʌ]Category:Danish terms with IPA pronunciation#TERROR

Noun

terror c (singular definite terroren, not used in plural form)Category:Danish lemmas#TERRORCategory:Danish nouns#TERRORCategory:Danish entries with incorrect language header#TERRORCategory:Danish common-gender nouns#TERRORCategory:Pages with entries#TERRORCategory:Pages with 12 entries#TERROR

1. terror

References

• “terror” in Den Danske Ordbog

Etymology

Learned borrowing from LatinCategory:Galician terms borrowed from Latin#TERRORCategory:Galician learned borrowings from Latin#TERRORCategory:Galician terms derived from Latin#TERROR terror m.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɛˈroɾ/ [t̪ɛˈroɾ]Category:Galician terms with IPA pronunciation#TERROR
• Rhymes: -oɾCategory:Rhymes:Galician/oɾ#TERRORCategory:Rhymes:Galician/oɾ/2 syllables#TERROR
• Hyphenation: te‧rror

Noun

terror m (plural terrores)Category:Galician lemmas#TERRORCategory:Galician nouns#TERRORCategory:Galician countable nouns#TERRORCategory:Galician entries with incorrect language header#TERRORCategory:Galician masculine nouns#TERRORCategory:Pages with entries#TERRORCategory:Pages with 12 entries#TERROR

1. terror

   Synonyms: espanto, horror, pavor

References

• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “terror”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “terror”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• “terror”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2026
• “terror”, in Dicionário Estraviz de galego (in Galician), 2014–2026
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “terror”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega

Etymology

Orthographic borrowing from EnglishCategory:Hungarian terms borrowed from English#TERRORCategory:Hungarian orthographic borrowings from English#TERRORCategory:Hungarian terms derived from English#TERROR terror, from LatinCategory:Hungarian terms derived from Latin#TERROR terror m.^[1]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈtɛrːor]Category:Hungarian terms with IPA pronunciation#TERROR
• Hyphenation: ter‧ror
• Rhymes: -orCategory:Rhymes:Hungarian/or#TERRORCategory:Rhymes:Hungarian/or/2 syllables#TERROR

Noun

terror (plural terrorok)Category:Hungarian lemmas#TERRORCategory:Hungarian nouns#TERRORCategory:Hungarian entries with incorrect language header#TERRORCategory:Pages with entries#TERRORCategory:Pages with 12 entries#TERROR

1. terror (especially the action or quality of causing dread)

   Synonym: megfélemlítés

References

Further reading

• terror in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.

Etymology

From terreō (“to frighten, terrify”) +‎ -orCategory:Latin terms suffixed with -or#TERROR.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈtɛr.rɔr]Category:Latin 2-syllable words#TERRORCategory:Latin terms with IPA pronunciation#TERROR
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈtɛr.ror]Category:Latin 2-syllable words#TERRORCategory:Latin terms with IPA pronunciation#TERROR

Noun

terror m (genitive terrōris)Category:Latin lemmas#TERRORCategory:Latin nouns#TERRORCategory:Latin third declension nouns#TERRORCategory:Latin masculine nouns in the third declension#TERRORCategory:Latin entries with incorrect language header#TERRORCategory:Latin masculine nouns#TERRORCategory:Pages with entries#TERRORCategory:Pages with 12 entries#TERROR; third declension

1. a dread, terror, great fear, alarm, panic

   Synonyms: pavor m, timor m, metus m

2. an object of fear or dread

References

• “terror”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “terror”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to inspire fear, terror: timorem, terrorem alicui inicere, more strongly incutere
    
  • terror, panic seizes some one: terror incidit alicui
    
  • terror, panic seizes some one: terror invadit in aliquem (rarely alicui, after Livy aliquem)
    
  • to overwhelm some one with terror: in terrorem conicere aliquem
    

  Category:Latin words in Meissner and Auden's phrasebook

Etymology

Borrowed from EnglishCategory:Norwegian Bokmål terms borrowed from English#TERRORCategory:Norwegian Bokmål terms derived from English#TERROR terror, from LatinCategory:Norwegian Bokmål terms derived from Latin#TERROR terror m.

Pronunciation

This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

Category:Requests for pronunciation in Norwegian Bokmål entries#TERROR

This entry needs an audio pronunciation. If you are a native speaker with a microphone, please record this word. The recorded pronunciation will appear here when it's ready.

Category:Requests for audio pronunciation in Norwegian Bokmål entries#TERROR

Noun

terror m (definite singular terroren, uncountable)Category:Norwegian Bokmål lemmas#TERRORCategory:Norwegian Bokmål nouns#TERRORCategory:Norwegian Bokmål uncountable nouns#TERRORCategory:Norwegian Bokmål entries with incorrect language header#TERRORCategory:Norwegian Bokmål masculine nouns#TERRORCategory:Pages with entries#TERRORCategory:Pages with 12 entries#TERROR

1. terror

References

• “terror” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Etymology

Borrowed from EnglishCategory:Norwegian Nynorsk terms borrowed from English#TERRORCategory:Norwegian Nynorsk terms derived from English#TERROR terror, from LatinCategory:Norwegian Nynorsk terms derived from Latin#TERROR terror m.

Pronunciation

This entry needs an audio pronunciation. If you are a native speaker with a microphone, please record this word. The recorded pronunciation will appear here when it's ready.

Category:Requests for audio pronunciation in Norwegian Nynorsk entries#TERROR

• IPA^(key): [ˈtʰerru̞r]Category:Icelandic terms with IPA pronunciation#TERROR

Noun

terror m (definite singular terroren, uncountable)Category:Norwegian Nynorsk lemmas#TERRORCategory:Norwegian Nynorsk nouns#TERRORCategory:Norwegian Nynorsk uncountable nouns#TERRORCategory:Norwegian Nynorsk entries with incorrect language header#TERRORCategory:Norwegian Nynorsk masculine nouns#TERRORCategory:Pages with entries#TERRORCategory:Pages with 12 entries#TERROR

1. terror

References

• “terror” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Etymology

Borrowed from EnglishCategory:Polish terms borrowed from English#TERRORCategory:Polish terms derived from English#TERROR terror, from Old FrenchCategory:Polish terms derived from Old French#TERROR terreur f, from LatinCategory:Polish terms derived from Latin#TERROR terror m, from terrēre (“to frighten, terrify”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɛr.rɔr/Category:Polish 2-syllable words#TERRORCategory:Polish terms with IPA pronunciation#TERROR

• Audio:

  (file)

  Category:Polish terms with audio pronunciation#TERROR
• Rhymes: -ɛrrɔrCategory:Rhymes:Polish/ɛrrɔr#TERRORCategory:Rhymes:Polish/ɛrrɔr/2 syllables#TERROR
• Syllabification: ter‧ror

Noun

terror m inanCategory:Polish lemmas#TERRORCategory:Polish nouns#TERRORCategory:Polish entries with incorrect language header#TERRORCategory:Polish masculine nouns#TERRORCategory:Polish inanimate nouns#TERRORCategory:Pages with entries#TERRORCategory:Pages with 12 entries#TERROR

1. (politicsCategory:pl:Politics#TERROR) terror (policy of political repression and violence intended to subdue political opposition)

Further reading

• terror in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• terror in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Etymology

Borrowed from LatinCategory:Portuguese terms borrowed from Latin#TERRORCategory:Portuguese terms derived from Latin#TERROR terrōrem m.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Brazil (Caipira)):

  (file)

  Category:Portuguese terms with audio pronunciation#TERROR
• Hyphenation: ter‧ror

Noun

terror m (plural terrores)Category:Portuguese lemmas#TERRORCategory:Portuguese nouns#TERRORCategory:Portuguese countable nouns#TERRORCategory:Portuguese entries with incorrect language header#TERRORCategory:Portuguese masculine nouns#TERRORCategory:Pages with entries#TERRORCategory:Pages with 12 entries#TERROR

1. terror (intense fear)
   • 2003, J. K. Rowling, Lia Wyler, Harry Potter e a Ordem da Fênix, Rocco, page 493:

     Os olhos do elfo se arregalavam de terror e ele tremia.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

     Category:Portuguese terms with quotations#TERRORCategory:Requests for translations of Portuguese quotations#TERROR

   • 2009, Robson Campos De Abreu, Teatro para Mágicos, Clube de Autores, page 60:

     A música é tão importante que existe até categoria de premiação no Oscar, pois a mesma ajuda a criar todo o clima que vemos nos filmes[,] seja este um filme divertido e infantil, ou seja,^[sic] aquele terror super hiper mega blaster assustador.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

     Category:Portuguese terms with quotations#TERRORCategory:Requests for translations of Portuguese quotations#TERROR

2. (BrazilCategory:Brazilian Portuguese#TERROR, slangCategory:Portuguese slang#TERROR) a very troublesome person or thing

   Você é um terror, garoto! ― You're naughty, boy!Category:Portuguese terms with usage examples#TERROR

   Esses bandidos são um terror ― Those criminals are terrible!Category:Portuguese terms with usage examples#TERROR

Further reading

• “terror”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “terror”, in Dicionário infopédia da Lingua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2026
• “terror”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Etymology

Borrowed from LatinCategory:Spanish terms borrowed from Latin#TERRORCategory:Spanish terms derived from Latin#TERROR terrorem m.^[1]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /teˈroɾ/ [t̪eˈroɾ]Category:Spanish 2-syllable words#TERRORCategory:Spanish terms with IPA pronunciation#TERROR
• Rhymes: -oɾCategory:Rhymes:Spanish/oɾ#TERRORCategory:Rhymes:Spanish/oɾ/2 syllables#TERROR
• Syllabification: te‧rror

Noun

terror m (plural terrores)Category:Spanish lemmas#TERRORCategory:Spanish nouns#TERRORCategory:Spanish countable nouns#TERRORCategory:Spanish entries with incorrect language header#TERRORCategory:Spanish masculine nouns#TERRORCategory:Pages with entries#TERRORCategory:Pages with 12 entries#TERROR

1. terror
2. (genre) horror

References

Further reading

• “terror”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

Etymology

Borrowed from LatinCategory:Swedish terms borrowed from Latin#TERRORCategory:Swedish terms derived from Latin#TERROR terror. First attested in 1617^[1].

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɛrɔr/Category:Swedish terms with IPA pronunciation#TERROR

• Audio (Småland):

  (file)

  Category:Swedish terms with audio pronunciation#TERROR

Noun

terror cCategory:Swedish lemmas#TERRORCategory:Swedish nouns#TERRORCategory:Swedish entries with incorrect language header#TERRORCategory:Swedish common-gender nouns#TERRORCategory:Pages with entries#TERRORCategory:Pages with 12 entries#TERROR

1. terror

References