Terror
AI In plain words
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Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
terror¹
- /ˈtɛɹɚ/ US
- /tɛɚ/
- /ˈtɛɹə/ UK
- /ˈteɹə/ Australia, New Zealand
- /ˈtɛɾəɾ/ Scotland
- /ˈtɛɾə/ Wales
- /ˈtʌɹɚ/
Sounds like terra, (both non-rhotic) Terra, (Mary–marry–merry merger) tearer, tare, (some American dialects) tear · Rhymes with -ɛɹə(ɹ), -ɛə(ɹ)
Where it comes from
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *tres-
Proto-Indo-European *-yeti
Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti
Proto-Indo-European *troséyeti
Proto-Italic *trozeō
Latin terreō
Proto-Indo-European *-os
Proto-Indo-European *-s
Proto-Indo-European *-ōs
Proto-Italic *-ōs
Latin -or
Latin terrorbor.
Old French terreur
Middle French terreurbor.
Middle English terrour
English terror
From late Middle English terrour, from Old French terreur f (“terror, fear, dread”), from Latin terror (“fright, fear, terror”), from terrēre (“to frighten, terrify”), from Old Latin tr̥reō, from Proto-Italic *trozeō, from Proto-Indo-European *tre- (“to shake”), *tres- (“to tremble”).
noun terrors · terrour
- Intense dread, fright, or fear. The terrors with which I was seized […] were extreme.
- The action or quality of causing dread; terribleness, especially such qualities in narrative fiction.
- Something or someone that causes such fear. The Begums' ministers, on the contrary, to extort from them the disclosure of the place which concealed the treasures, were, […] after being fettered and imprisoned, led out on to a scaffold, and this array of terrours proving unavailing, the meek tempered Middleton, as a dernier resort, menaced the
- Terrorism. a terror attack
- A night terror.
adjective more terror · most terror · terrour
- A strict teacher who fails most of the students. I have a terror math teacher.
Terror²
Where it comes from
Proper noun form of terror. Translation of French Terreur, as coined by the Thermidorian Reaction
proper noun
- The Reign of Terror during the French Revolution.
- Any specific one of several historical reigns of terror.