Meaning & use
germophobia
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Meanings
noununcountablemedical
An intense, often irrational fear of germs, dirt or infection that affects how a person lives.
Grammar: Uncountable: suffer from germophobia, not a germophobia.
Patterns
- suffer from germophobia
- germophobia about something
His germophobia made him wash his hands dozens of times a day.
Therapy helped her manage her germophobia and shake hands again.
Germophobia can become a serious problem when it stops someone leaving the house.
noununcountableinformalhumorous
A strong, non-medical dislike of touching things that might be dirty.
Grammar: Used loosely and often jokingly, with no medical meaning.
Patterns
- a touch of germophobia
- jokes about germophobia
My germophobia kicks in whenever I have to hold a handrail on the bus.
She laughed about her germophobia as she wiped the table twice.
A little germophobia in a kitchen is not a bad thing.
Common combinations
- suffer from germophobia
- He has suffered from germophobia since childhood.
- severe germophobia
- Severe germophobia can disrupt daily life.
- treat germophobia
- Doctors can treat germophobia with therapy.
- overcome germophobia
- She slowly overcame her germophobia.
- germophobia and anxiety
- Germophobia and anxiety often appear together.
Synonyms and how they differ
- mysophobia
- Mysophobia is the older clinical term for the same fear, while germophobia is more common in everyday speech.
- bacteriophobia
- Bacteriophobia narrows the fear to bacteria specifically, whereas germophobia covers germs of all kinds.
- fear of germs
- This phrase is a plain description that anyone can understand, while germophobia names it as a condition.
Word family
- germophobe noun
- a person who has this fear
- germophobic adjective
- relating to or showing this fear
- phobia noun
- a strong, lasting fear of something
- germ noun
- a tiny organism that can cause disease
- mysophobia noun
- the clinical term for a fear of dirt or germs
Commonly confused: germophobia or agoraphobia?
germophobia vs agoraphobia
Agoraphobia is a fear of open or crowded places, not a fear of germs.
Practice
His ______ was so strong that he refused to touch door handles.
Choose one answer.
Germophobia is an intense fear of germs, which explains avoiding door handles. Claustrophobia is fear of small spaces, hydrophobia fear of water and xenophobia fear of foreigners.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “germophobia”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.