claustrophobia

From Latin claustrum (“a shut-in place”), from Latin claudō (“I shut, close; I imprison, confine”) +‎ -phobia. First attested in the British Medical Journal.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌklɒs.trəˈfəʊ.bi.ə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌklɔː.strəˈfoʊ.bi.ə/, /ˌklɑs.trəˈfoʊ.bi.ə/

  • Audio (US):

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• Hyphenation: claus‧tro‧pho‧bi‧a
• Rhymes: -əʊbiə

claustrophobia (usually uncountable, plural claustrophobias)

1. The abnormal fear of closed, tight places.
   • 1902 JANUARY, WM. BALDWIN KEYES, D.D.S., “Pyorrhea Alveolaris With Special Reference To Practical Medicine.”, in The Dental Cosmos, volume XLIV, number 1, page 4:

     She complained of emaciation, nervousness, tenderness of the scalp, weakness of the back, claustrophobia, and other morbid fears.

   • 2007 June 16, Ben Brantley, “An Artist’s Look Back at Her Life, Now Ended”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     The first scenes, which take place in a minitheater that keeps shrinking, will be painful for anyone with even a tinge of claustrophobia.

   • 2024 August 11, Andrew Torgan and Daniel Wine, “Start your week smart: Gymnast stripped of medal, Brazil plane crash, Trump campaign hack, fighting inside Russia”, in CNN‎^[2]:

     (Editor’s note: Those who suffer from claustrophobia, kabourophobia, arachnophobia or thalassophobia are advised to skip the above trailer.)

• agoraphobia (contrastive)

• claustrophobic
• claustrophobe