You searched for: “homophobia”
homophobia (s) (noun), homophobias (pl)
1. An intense apprehension or hatred of homosexuality or homosexuals in general; correctly termed as "homosexualphobia": Homophobia covers a spectrum of negative beliefs, feelings, values, and dispositions towards people who are thought to be gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.
2. An inordinate aversion of monotony: Jeffrey always wanted to do his everyday chores in a different way in order to avoid the humdrum and sameness everyday, and it became so extreme that he consequently suffered from homophobia!
This entry is located in the following units: homo-, hom- + (page 6) phobo-, phob-, -phobia, -phobias, -phobe, -phobiac, -phobist, -phobic, -phobism, -phobous (page 20)
homophobia, homosexualphobia
homophobia (hoh" muh FOH bee uh) (noun)
1. An excessive hatred of or fear of monotony, or doing the same thing over and over again: Jerome had homophobia regarding his job because he considered it to be so terribly boring having to repeat the same process over and over.

In this case, the elements homo-, hom- come from Greek meaning "same, common".

2. A fear of or an intense apprehension or hatred of homosexuality or homosexuals in general: Sally's feelings of homophobia were so intense that she avoided the so called "Gay Parade" that was going on in the city.
3. An "obsolete term" for someone who has an abnormal fear or hatred for human beings: The Latin element, Homo, is a genus (group of more than one species) of the family Homoinidae of which Homo sapiens is the only living species and so homophobia in this case refers to a pathological fear of humankind, humanity, or people in general.
homosexualphobia (hoh" moh SEK shoo uhl FOH bee uh) (noun)
A fear of, dread of, or strong contempt for lesbians and gay men: It was difficult for him to conceal his homosexualphobia when he saw two guys hugging and kissing each other on the bus going into town.

Whenever Jack hears a negative reference regarding homophobia, or intense fear and hatred of homosexuals, his friend, who is a gay activist speaks up, insisting that the speaker should use the more accurate term which is homosexualphobia; because homophobia has another application; such as, a fear or dread of being bored or having to endure monotony; that is, having a lack of variety in his life.

For more information about the homo- elements, see the Greek homo-, hom- and the Latin homo-, hom-, hum- units for more explanations.

This entry is located in the following units: Confusing Words Clarified: Group H; Homonyms, Homophones, Homographs, Synonyms, Polysemes, etc. + (page 4) homo-, hom- + (page 6)