Word.ws English Dictionary

mathophobia

mathophobia noun: an aversion to mathematics.

Noun

mathophobia (uncountable)

  1. (informal) An aversion to mathematics.
    • "Americans," contends M.I.T.'s curriculum reformer, Dr. Jerrold Zacharius, "have mathophobia." They are "scared to death" of math, he says, because most teachers are afraid of it themselves and fail "to make it exciting."1967 March 17, Anonymous, "The Price of Mathophobia" in the Education section of Time
    • As some of the negative actions are very probably a consequence of mathophobia, the spirit of this book may cure at least a few present or future deciders from that affliction.2011, Alexander Soifer, The Colorado Mathematical Olympiad and Further Explorations, page VII

Forms of mathophobia

alternative formmathphobia

Origin of mathophobia

From math + -o- + -phobia.

Questions about mathophobia

What does mathophobia mean?
Mathophobia means an aversion to mathematics.
What part of speech is mathophobia?
Mathophobia is a noun.

Words near mathophobia in the dictionary

  1. Matho
  2. mathom
  3. mathoms
  4. Mathomus
  5. Mathon
  6. mathophobia
  7. Mathoura
  8. mathphobia
  9. mathree
  10. mathrees
  11. Mathry

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: mathophobia (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “mathophobia.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mathophobia. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.