Meaning & use
anxiety attack
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A sudden period of intense worry or fear, often with a racing heart, shaking and difficulty breathing.
Grammar: Countable: she had an anxiety attack.
Patterns
- have an anxiety attack
- an anxiety attack about something
She had an anxiety attack before the exam and had to leave the room.
He felt an anxiety attack coming on in the crowded elevator.
The doctor explained how to cope with an anxiety attack.
Word forms
| plural | anxiety attacks |
|---|
Common combinations
- have an anxiety attack
- He had an anxiety attack on the bridge.
- suffer from anxiety attacks
- She suffers from anxiety attacks at work.
- trigger an anxiety attack
- Loud noises can trigger an anxiety attack.
- calm down during an anxiety attack
- Slow breathing helps during an anxiety attack.
- a sudden anxiety attack
- A sudden anxiety attack made him sit down.
Synonyms and how they differ
- panic attack
- Panic attack is the standard medical term and is usually more sudden and intense.
- nervous breakdown
- This is an older term for a long period of severe distress, not a short episode.
- meltdown
- Meltdown is informal and can describe an angry or emotional outburst too.
- fit of nerves
- This is milder and less clinical.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: anxiety attack or heart attack?
anxiety attack vs heart attack
A heart attack is a blockage affecting the heart; an anxiety attack is an emotional episode, though symptoms can feel similar.
Practice
She felt her heart racing and her hands shaking, and she realized she was having an ___.
Choose one answer.
Anxiety attack is the set phrase for a sudden episode of intense worry. The other options are not normal collocations.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “anxiety attack”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.