This week’s theme
There’s a word for it

This week’s words
misophonia
lawfare
gerontocracy
gamesmanship
phonophobia


This week’s comments
AWADmail 1061

Next week’s theme
Abbreviations, acronyms, and blends

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(foh-nuh/noh-FOH-bee-uh)

MEANING:

noun:
1. A fear of or intolerance of loud sounds.
2. A hypersensitivity to sound.
3. An aversion to the sound of one’s own voice.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Greek phono- (sound) + -phobia (fear). Earliest documented use: 1841. See also, astraphobia.

USAGE:

“You were the one ... eating your lunch in the noisiest place on the planet, despite your raging phonophobia.”
Brea Brown; Quiet, Please!; Wayzgoose Press; 2020.

“John, a grown man, becomes an insecure bundle of nerves with sweaty palms and constricted breathing whenever he has to make a telephone call. ... John is probably suffering from phonophobia.”
For Some, Telephone Is Terrifying; The Citizen (Ottawa, Canada); Dec 17, 1985.
[Is John fearful of sound, hearing his own voice, or the phone? -Ed.]

See more usage examples of phonophobia in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: