Nightmare Turned Noun ˈnaɪtmeə(R ˈnaɪtmer Accident Recurring Stuck

• he still has nightmares about the accident.
• she has a recurring nightmare about being stuck in a lift.
• the trip turned into a nightmare when they both got sick.
• nobody knows what's going on—it's a nightmare!

nightmare

1. a dream that is very frightening or unpleasant
• He still has nightmares about the accident.
• She has a recurring nightmare about being stuck in a lift.

Extra Examples

• Survivors suffer flashbacks, nightmares and severe depression.
• The faces of all the people he had killed haunted his nightmares.
• The film gave me nightmares.
• Horror films always give me nightmares.
2. an experience that is very frightening and unpleasant, or very difficult to deal with
• The trip turned into a nightmare when they both got sick.
• Nobody knows what's going on—it's a nightmare!
• Filling in all those forms was a nightmare.
• Losing a child is most people's worst nightmare.
• If it goes ahead, it will be the nightmare scenario (= the worst thing that could happen).
• Travel in the city was becoming a logistical nightmare.
• What a nightmare for you!

Extra Examples

• The refugees had survived a living nightmare.
• The writer evokes a nightmare vision of a future on a polluted planet.
• Their dream of living in the country turned into a nightmare when they both fell seriously ill.
• the nightmare scenario of mass unemployment
• She has spoken about it to help others get over the nightmare of addiction.
• The nightmare began last Wednesday afternoon.
• These new regulations will be an administrative nightmare.
• This has been an absolute nightmare for me and my family.

Word Origin

• Middle English (denoting a female evil spirit who was thought to lie upon and suffocate sleepers): from night + Old English mære ‘incubus’.