nightmare
[noun]
Synonyms:
- bad dream, hallucination
- ordeal, horror, torment, trial, tribulation

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English Thesaurus: dream, nightmare, daydream, reverie, ambition, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

night‧mare /ˈnaɪtmeə $ -mer/ noun [countable]
[Date: 1200-1300; Origin: night + mare 'evil spirit' (11-18 centuries) (from Old English)]

1. a very frightening dream
nightmare about
Years after the accident I still have nightmares about it.
a recurring nightmare (=one which you have again and again)

2. [usually singular] a very difficult, unpleasant, or frightening experience or situation:
Traffic was a nightmare.
nightmare for
This has been an absolute nightmare for me and my family.
nightmare of (doing) something
the nightmare of going through divorce
It was every teacher’s worst nightmare (=the worst thing which could have happened).
a nightmare journey

3. something terrible that you fear may happen in the future
nightmare of
the nightmare of a nuclear war
nightmare scenario (=the worst or most frightening situation that you can imagine)
—nightmarish adjective

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

nightmare
noun
I. bad dream
ADJ. awful, horrible, terrible, terrifying | continuing, recurring
VERB + NIGHTMARE have, suffer | wake (up) from | give sb The film gave me nightmares.
PREP. ~ about I have nightmares about drowning.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

nightmare
II. bad/feared experience
ADJ. absolute, awful, horrible, real, terrible, terrifying | worst Losing a child is my worst nightmare.
personal | living The refugees had survived a living nightmare.
administrative, bureaucratic, financial, etc.
VERB + NIGHTMARE endure, face, suffer, survive | become, prove, turn into Their dream of living in the country turned into a nightmare when they both fell seriously ill.
create | escape (from)
NIGHTMARE + VERB be over | come true
NIGHTMARE + NOUN scenario, vision the nightmare scenario of mass unemployment The writer evokes a nightmare vision of a future on a polluted planet.
world | journey

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

nightmare

an absolute/complete nightmare
The whole day was an absolute nightmare.
a real nightmare
The situation with our neighbours is a real nightmare!
the ultimate nightmare (=the worst possible situation)
The ultimate nightmare for any parent is to suffer the loss of a child.
somebody's worst nightmare (=the worst possible situation)
The outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease was farming's worst nightmare.
a long nightmare
How can we bring an end to the long nightmare in the Middle East?
a living/waking nightmare (=something extremely bad that happens in your life)
Being told I had cancer was a waking nightmare.
a logistical nightmare (=something that is very complicated and difficult to organize)
Arranging childcare during the summer can be a logistical nightmare.
an administrative/bureaucratic nightmare (=something that is very complicated and difficult to keep accurate records of)
Dealing with so many new applications for asylum is an administrative nightmare.
a personal/private nightmare (=a very bad situation that affects only one person)
His personal nightmare began when he was arrested for murder.
be a nightmare
The whole holiday was a nightmare.
become/turn into a nightmare
Their honeymoon turned into a nightmare when they were involved in a car accident.
a nightmare begins
The nightmare began when her mother fell ill.
a nightmare ends
We just want this nightmare to end!
end a nightmare
He longed for something to end the nightmare.
a nightmare comes true (=something bad that someone fears actually happens)
The company's worst financial nightmare has now come true.
the nightmare scenario (=the worst possible situation)
Emergency planners are trying to prepare for this nightmare scenario.
a nightmare vision (=a very bad situation that might happen)
The book gives us a nightmare vision of a family destroyed by one man's secrets.
a nightmare world (=a situation in which everything is bad and there is nothing good)
It's hard to understand how people survived the nightmare world of the concentration camps.
a nightmare journey/trip (=an extremely unpleasant journey)
Commuters are facing a nightmare journey to work due to the tube drivers strike.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

dream the thoughts, images, and feelings that go through your mind while you are asleep:
I had a strange dream last night -- you and I were in some sort of forest.
nightmare a very unpleasant and frightening dream:
She still has terrible nightmares about the accident.
daydream a series of pleasant thoughts that go through your mind when you are awake, so that you do not notice what is happening around you:
Neil was in a daydream, and didn’t hear the teacher call his name.
reverie formal a state of imagining or thinking about pleasant things, that is like dreaming:
The doorbell rang, shaking her from her reverie.
ambition something that you want to achieve and that you work hard to achieve, especially in your work:
My ambition had always been to start my own business.
aspirations the important things that people want from their lives – used especially about the things a society or a large group of people wants:
It’s important that young people think seriously about their career aspirations.
fantasy something exciting that you imagine happening to you, which is extremely unlikely to happen and often involves sex:
schoolboy fantasies
pipe dream a dream that is impossible or is extremely unlikely to happen:
Is world peace no more than a pipe dream?

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

imagine to form a picture or idea in your mind about what something might be like:
When I think of Honolulu, I imagine long white beaches and palm trees.
I can’t really imagine being a millionaire.
visualize to form a picture of someone or something in your mind, especially something that is definitely going to happen or exist in the future:
Anna visualized meeting Greg again at the airport.
The finished house may be hard to visualize.
picture to form a clear picture of something or someone in your mind:
I can still picture my father, even though he died a long time ago.
The town was just how she had pictured it from his description.
envisage /ɪnˈvɪzɪdʒ/ especially British English, envision to imagine something as possible or likely to happen in the future:
How do you envisage your career developing over the next ten years?
They had envisioned the creation of a single armed force, small but efficient.
conceive of something formal to imagine a situation, especially one that is difficult to imagine:
For many people, music is so important that they cannot conceive of life without it.
fantasize to imagine something exciting that you would like to happen, but that is very unlikely to happen:
I used to fantasize about becoming a film star.
daydream to imagine pleasant things, so that you forget where you are and what you should be doing:
Mark began to daydream, and didn’t even hear the teacher’s question.
hallucinate to imagine that you are seeing things that are not really there, especially because you are ill or have taken drugs:
The drug that can cause some people to hallucinate.
When I saw the walls moving, I thought I must be hallucinating.
dream the thoughts, images, and feelings that go through your mind while you are asleep:
I had a strange dream last night -- you and I were in some sort of forest.
nightmare a very unpleasant and frightening dream:
She still has terrible nightmares about the accident.
reverie formal a state of imagining or thinking about pleasant things, that is like dreaming:
The doorbell rang, shaking her from her reverie.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲