agoraphobia
/ˌæɡ.ə.ɹəˈfəʊ.bi.ə/
agoraphobia means the fear of wide open spaces, crowds, or uncontrolled social conditions. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 81 out of 100.
agoraphobia is pronounced /ˌæɡ.ə.ɹəˈfəʊ.bi.ə/.
Why “agoraphobia” is a great word
AGORAPHOBIA — [Noun] An anxiety disorder characterized by an intense fear of situations where escape might be difficult or help unavailable, such as open spaces, crowds, or public transport. From German Agoraphobie, from Ancient Greek ἀγορά (agorá, "marketplace, public assembly") + φοβία (phobía, "fear"). Coined in 1871 by the German psychiatrist Carl Friedrich Otto Westphal. Unlike claustrophobia, which dreads crushing enclosure, or social anxiety disorder, which fears scrutiny, agoraphobia is a terror of the exposed and inescapable stage. It is the vertigo of a crowded train platform where all paths are blocked, the tightening chest at the threshold of a vast, empty plaza, and the silent paralysis before a horizon too wide to contain—a profound geography of panic where the world, too open, offers no sanctuary.
Etymology
From Latin agoraphobia, from Ancient Greek ἀγορά (agorá, “assembly”) + φοβία (phobía, “fear”). By surface analysis, agora + -phobia.
Coined by Karl Friedrich Otto Westphal in 1871.
noun
- The fear of wide open spaces, crowds, or uncontrolled social conditions.“Now, you know that the classical analytical explanation of agoraphobia of the early 1900s was that it represented a street phobia because the patient equated streetwalking with prostitutional activity[…]”
- An aversion to markets.“For quotations using this term, see Citations:agoraphobia.”