English edit

Etymology edit

Blend of fright +‎ nightmare

Noun edit

frightmare (plural frightmares)

  1. (informal) Someone or something extremely unattractive.
    • 2011, Camilla Morton, A Year in High Heels, →ISBN:
      Try and stick to only a few decorative elements, not a 'more is more' frightmare.
    • 2013, Simon Reynolds, Generation Ecstasy: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture, →ISBN:
      It's a Dali-esque frightmare of liquescent forms, a pseudo-organic samplescape congested with scrofulous sound tentacles and slithery slimeshapes.
    • 2014, David Mitchell, The Bone Clocks, →ISBN, page 143:
      'A cuddly six and a half. Yummier than that Wednesday Addams lookalike Günter's also taken on. Frightmare or what?'
  2. An extremely unpleasant and frightening experience.
    • 1974, Fritz Leiber, The book of Fritz Leiber, page 17:
      Yes, that must have been the way it had happened, Gibby decided — just one long frightmare, part of it filmed in this bedroom.
    • 2011, Fern Michaels, Late Edition, →ISBN, page 223:
      Wednesday morning, Jamie was pacing back and forth in the small kitchen when she decided that she didn't want to be alone after last night's frightmare.
    • 2014, Deborah Gregory, Hey, Ho, Hollywood!, →ISBN:
      I sure hope so, I think nervously—because between my too tight costume, this too tight dressing room, and High Priestess Abala's too spooky Vampire Spell, this whole thing is turning into a New York frightmare!