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Dec 23, 2009
This week's theme
Fear and desire

This week's words
agoraphobia
dipsomania
astraphobia
onomatomania
acrophobia
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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

astraphobia

PRONUNCIATION:
(as-truh-FO-bee-uh)

MEANING:
noun: An abnormal fear of lightning and thunder.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek astrape (lightning). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ster- (star) that is also the source of star, asterisk, asteroid, astrology, disaster, stellar, constellation, Persian sitareh (star), and the names Stella and Esther.

NOTES:
Also known as astrapophobia and brontophobia (from Greek bronte-, thunder, which also gave us brontosaurus).

USAGE:
"In the USA, it is estimated around 10 per cent of people suffer from astraphobia to some degree."
Don White; Weatherwatch; Daily Telegraph (Sydney, Australia); Dec 11, 2001.

See more usage examples of astraphobia in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Any advertisement in public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It belongs to you. It's yours to take, re-arrange, and re-use. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head. -Banksy, street artist (b. 1974)

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