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Oct 28, 2022
This week’s theme
There’s a word for it

This week’s words
misophonia
lawfare
gerontocracy
gamesmanship
phonophobia

phonophobia
Brace yourself.
The toaster is about to pop.

This week’s comments
AWADmail 1061

Next week’s theme
Abbreviations, acronyms, and blends
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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

phonophobia

PRONUNCIATION:
(foh-nuh/noh-FOH-bee-uh)

MEANING:
noun:
1. A fear of or intolerance of loud sounds.
2. A hypersensitivity to sound.
3. An aversion to the sound of one’s own voice.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek phono- (sound) + -phobia (fear). Earliest documented use: 1841. See also, astraphobia.

USAGE:
“You were the one ... eating your lunch in the noisiest place on the planet, despite your raging phonophobia.”
Brea Brown; Quiet, Please!; Wayzgoose Press; 2020.

“John, a grown man, becomes an insecure bundle of nerves with sweaty palms and constricted breathing whenever he has to make a telephone call. ... John is probably suffering from phonophobia.”
For Some, Telephone Is Terrifying; The Citizen (Ottawa, Canada); Dec 17, 1985.
[Is John fearful of sound, hearing his own voice, or the phone? -Ed.]

See more usage examples of phonophobia in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes. -Desiderius Erasmus, philosopher, humanist, and theologian (28 Oct 1466-1536)

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