Panphobia

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An irrational and overwhelming fear of everything or a generalized fear characterized by a sense of dread towards all entities
2. Experiencing anxiety that encompasses all aspects of life, resulting in avoidance of various situations and interactions
3. A broad psychological condition where one feels an unfounded fear that can manifest in numerous contexts or stimuli

Etymology: "Panphobia" is a straightforward compound: "pan-", from Greek "pan" meaning "all" or "every," joined to "-phobia," from Greek "phobos," meaning "fear" or "dread." Together they describe a fear spread across everything, rather than tied to one object or situation. The pattern is worth noticing because "-phobia" is itself a modern building block. Greek "phobos" carried the sense of fright or flight in ancient texts, but the clinical use of "-phobia" as a suffix for specific fears was built on that root in the modern era, and coinages like it became common in psychological writing. "Pan-" was likewise a productive Greek prefix in English, used to form words meaning "all" or "universal," such as "pantheism." Pairing the two produces a term that reads as a fear of everything, though the word itself was assembled from these existing parts rather than handed down from antiquity.

Synonyms: omniphobia, fear of everything, generalized anxiety, existential dread, universal fear