Meaning & use
irrational fear
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Meanings
nouncountable or uncountable
A fear that is not based on reason or real danger.
Grammar: Can be countable (an irrational fear) or uncountable (irrational fear); often followed by 'of' + noun/-ing.
Patterns
- an irrational fear of something
- irrational fear of doing something
She has an irrational fear of butterflies.
His irrational fear of the dark makes it hard for him to sleep.
Many people have an irrational fear of flying, even though it's very safe.
noununcountable
A general feeling of fear that is not justified by the situation.
Grammar: Used without 'a' or 'an' when talking about the emotion in general.
Patterns
- irrational fear of something
- irrational fear that ...
The panic was driven by irrational fear, not by facts.
There is an irrational fear that immigrants will take all the jobs.
Common combinations
- have an irrational fear of
- I have an irrational fear of escalators.
- irrational fear of flying
- Her irrational fear of flying stopped her from traveling abroad.
- deep-seated irrational fear
- He has a deep-seated irrational fear of failure.
- overcome an irrational fear
- With therapy, she overcame her irrational fear of spiders.
Synonyms and how they differ
- phobia
- A phobia is a strong, specific, often clinical fear; 'irrational fear' is broader and can be mild.
- unreasonable fear
- Very similar, but 'unreasonable' focuses on lack of logic, while 'irrational' is more about being against reason.
Opposites
Commonly confused: irrational fear or phobia? irrational fear or fear?
irrational fear vs phobia
A phobia is an extreme, often medical fear of a specific thing; an irrational fear can be any unreasonable fear, not necessarily extreme.
irrational fear vs fear
Fear is the general emotion; an irrational fear is a specific type of fear that is not logical.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'irrational fear' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Irrational fear' is followed by 'of' + noun. The other prepositions ('to', 'for', 'at') are not used with 'fear' in this pattern.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “irrational fear”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.