Word.ws English Dictionary

Schwellenangst

Schwellenangst noun: a fear of, or aversion to, crossing a threshold or entering a place to begin a new chapter.

Noun

Schwellenangst (uncountable)

  1. A fear of, or aversion to, crossing a threshold or entering a place to begin a new chapter.
    • The inquiry also proves that a considerable number of people suffer from what is called "Schwellenangst", i. e., marked disinclination to visit a book shop unless they are quite sure of what title they want to buy.1970, Scandinavian Public Library Quarterly, volumes 3-4, page 122
    • She describes in her autobiography how she was overcome by an attack of ‘Schwellenangst’ when she wanted to cover her first trial, making it impossible for her to enter the courtroom.2005, Christina Ujma, “Gabriele Tergit and Berlin”, in Practicing Modernity, page 263

Origin of Schwellenangst

Borrowed from German Schwellenangst, from Schwelle (“threshold”) + Angst (“anxiety”).

Questions about Schwellenangst

What does Schwellenangst mean?
Schwellenangst means a fear of, or aversion to, crossing a threshold or entering a place to begin a new chapter.
What part of speech is Schwellenangst?
Schwellenangst is a noun.

Words near Schwellenangst in the dictionary

  1. Schweitzerian
  2. Schweitzers
  3. Schweizer
  4. Schweizer's reagent
  5. Schweizerischer Niederlaufhund
  6. Schwellenangst
  7. Schwendeman
  8. Schwendemans
  9. Schwendenerian
  10. Schwendi
  11. Schwendiman

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Schwellenangst (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: “Schwellenangst.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/schwellenangst. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.