Word.ws English Dictionary

waterfright

waterfright noun: a fear of water; aquaphobia.

Noun

waterfright (countable and uncountable, plural waterfrights)

  1. (nonstandard, rare) A fear of water; aquaphobia.
    • Possibly the foundation was subconscious memories of two water-frights, one on the ocean at six, one on a pond at thirteen ; but these were in themselves unimportant; and I have found, in my subconscious, few ideational or emotional associations.1927, William Ellery Leonard, The Locomotive-God, page 279
    • Others describe water fright as a condition marked by aversion to being bathed, cold, damp skin,and hyperkinesis, and yet others by fever and cold sweating even though the child is bundled and placed in the sun.2010, Frank J. Lipp, The Mixe of Oaxaca: Religion, Ritual, and Healing

Synonyms of waterfright

Forms of waterfright

pluralwaterfrights
alternative formwater-fright
alternative formwater fright

Origin of waterfright

From water + fright. Compare Old English wæterfyrhtness (“fear of water, hydrophobia”).

Questions about waterfright

What does waterfright mean?
Waterfright means a fear of water; aquaphobia.
What part of speech is waterfright?
Waterfright is a noun.
What is the plural of waterfright?
The plural of waterfright is waterfrights.

Words near waterfright in the dictionary

  1. waterfowler
  2. waterfowlers
  3. waterfowling
  4. waterfowls
  5. waterfree
  6. waterfright
  7. waterfrights
  8. waterfrog
  9. waterfrogs
  10. waterfront
  11. waterfrontage

Source and license

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