A nightmare is a very bad dream, or a situation that is extremely unpleasant.
What Does Nightmare Mean?
A nightmare is a dream that feels frightening or upsetting, and you often wake up from it.
I had a nightmare about a spelling test that never ended.
It has a second meaning too: something real that is horrible, stressful or hard to deal with.
Finding my shoes before school was a nightmare.
And here's the odd part: the mare in nightmare has nothing to do with a horse.
🔊 Pronunciation
NITE-mair
The stress is on the first part: NITE. The second part, mare, rhymes with care and hair.
🗣️ Natural Examples
I woke up in the middle of the night after a nightmare about a giant spider. It turned out to be a sock.
Packing for the school trip was a nightmare. Nothing fitted in the bag.
My brother has a nightmare every time he eats cheese before bed.
The traffic this morning was a complete nightmare.
Don't worry, it was only a nightmare. You're safe now.
🛠️ How to Use It
- As a noun for a bad dream: a nightmare, the nightmare, a recurring nightmare.
- With the verb have: I had a nightmare. Not do or make.
- For a bad situation, with humour: The queue was a nightmare.
- With to: The homework was a nightmare to finish.
- As an adjective, use nightmarish: a nightmarish journey.
🤝 Common Word Partners
- have a nightmare
- a recurring nightmare
- a terrible nightmare
- wake up from a nightmare
- a nightmare scenario
- a nightmare to deal with
- a living nightmare
🌳 Word Family
- nightmare (noun): a very bad dream, or a horrible situation. It was a nightmare.
- nightmarish (adjective): like a nightmare. The storm was nightmarish.
👯 Similar and Related Words
- bad dream: the everyday way to say it, and gentler than nightmare.
- dream: pictures and stories your mind makes while you sleep.
- daydream: a dream you have while awake.
- disaster: a very bad event. Nightmare is often used for a bad situation, while disaster is more about the result.
The difference: a bad dream is a general phrase. A nightmare is stronger.
⚠️ Common Mistakes
Use have, not do or make.
❌ I did a nightmare last night.
✅ I had a nightmare last night.
Spelling.
❌ nitemare, nightmear, night-mare
✅ nightmare
💬 In a Conversation
Sam: I had a nightmare last night.
Mia: What was in it?
Sam: A horse chased me.
Mia: A nightmare with a mare. That makes sense.
Sam: It doesn't. The mare isn't a horse.
Mia: Then who was chasing you?
Sam: A goblin. In a horse costume.
🕵️ Where Does It Come From?
Nightmare is built from two parts:
- night, which means exactly what you think
- mare, which comes from an Old English word for a goblin-like spirit
This mare is a different word from the horse mare. The old spirit-word traces back to a very old word for a goblin.
Around the year 1300, a mare was an evil spirit that people blamed for making sleepers feel heavy and squashed. The word was used for the spirit itself.
Later the word began to mean the heavy feeling. By the 1800s it meant any bad dream, and by 1831 it meant any very distressing experience. That's how a night goblin turned into a bad day at school.
💡 The OddLingo Trick
Remember: night + goblin, not night + horse.
If the horse in your head is getting in the way, picture a small goblin standing on a pillow. That's the mare in a nightmare.