phobo-, phob-, -phobia, -phobias, -phobe, -phobiac, -phobist, -phobic, -phobism, -phobous

A person who avoids the darkness of the night: Mrs. Jones was a scotophobic when it came to taking walks after the sun went down because she was frightened by not seeing everything like during the daytime!

1. A pathological fear of writing; graphophobia: Susan was poor in penmanship in school and misspelled so many words that she developed a case of scribophobia.
2. A dread of writing in the presence of others: Because Sally got very nervous when she had to write on the board at school in front of the other students and her teacher, she acquired a severe case of scribophobia after a few months.

An irrational dread of writing or of writing in public: When people with scriptophobia expect to be seen writing, they may experience physiological symptoms of heart palpitations, shortness of breath, trembling hands, sweating, or dizziness.

True-personal scriptophobia testimonies.

A strong dislike of flashing lights: Nancy declined going to the disco with her friends because she had selaphobia and couldn't stand the bright glaring illumination going on and off in such a quick succession.

An abnormal fear of the natural satellite of the Earth: Selenophobia is often related to apprehensions about night or situations that might occur at a full moon.

The effects of the moon on human behavior, especially its influence on insanity, have been noted for centuries.

Although there is no scientific verification, professionals, such as nurses, police, and firemen and people who deal with large numbers of emergency situations, report an upsurge in activities and more extreme behaviors during a full moon than at other times.

1. An excessive fear of decaying matter: Septophobia refers to the anxieties that some people have about being in contact with dirt, impurity, pollution, and disease-producing substances.
2. Etymology: from Greek sep, "decay" + phobia."fear".

A hatred of big words: Catherine's English essay instructor had a sesquipedalophia that she instilled in all of her students, urging them to use vocabulary contents that are easy to read and to comprehend.

An irrational dread of railroads or of traveling on trains: Since Andrew has siderodromophobia he either goes by plane, bus, or car when he has job appointments in different parts of the country.

An excessive dislike of stars: Greg had aversions to clear nights because he had siderophobia and thought that some evil might come from the celestial bodies in the sky.

An irrational dread of things on the left side: Sinistrophobia includes an apprehension of items located opposite the right side or of left-handedness, and the symptoms can comprise irregular heartbeat, sweating, nausea, dry mouth, and shaking.

1. A hostility toward China, its people, and things related to China: Sinophobia is a way of thinking opposed to China's culture, history, government, etc. and is often aimed at those minorities living in other countries.
2. An aversion of Chinese-made goods or of products that are labeled "Made in China": Sinophobia is what Mary's mother had because she never wanted to buy any articles which came from China, although they were as good as the items from other countries.

1. A reference to a dislike of China: Thomas seemingly had a sinophobic opinion of China because he never wanted to go there on a trip and learn about its people, its culture, food, etc.
2. Descriptive of an anxiety of Chinese produced food and manufactured products: Some people have sinophobic antipathies concerning goods coming from China which may be poisonous or cause illnesses, such as toys, milk, eggs, etc.

1. An abnormal fear of food or of eating: Following chemotherapy, for example, a case of sitiophobia can occur where the patient does not want to take in nourishment because of the very unpleasant symptoms of nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain.
2. Psychoneurotic abhorrence of food: Sitophobia can arise when a young woman has an eating disorder and a strong repugnance to nourishment, whether generally or only to specific dishes.

An anxiety about being shot by an individual from a concealed place: Sniperphobia is quite a natural horror when doing normal activities, such as shopping, filling the car with gas, going to and from school, etc. and suddenly being hit by a missile from a weapon!

From October 2-24, 2002 citizens in the states of Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. were terrorized by two snipers who chose a variety of targets, mixing age, gender, and ethnicity within a expanded geographic killing area.

To say that people had sniperphobia and were fearful of being shot is an understatement! There were many who were unconditionally terrified to leave their homes for any reason for fear of being killed by a sniper.

Fortunately the snipers, an older man and a teenager, were finally apprehended, to the great relief of people who were in the sniper states.

A strong dislike of one's parents-in-law: After being married for a short time, Timothy developed soceraphobia because he was often very hesitant of doing or saying something wrong when his wife's mom and dad were over for the day, and being criticised by them!