araneophobia
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Etymology: From Latin arānea or arāneus + -o- + -phobia.
Senses: examples: text: To exasperation caused by this impotence in the past, we may ascribe at least some portion of man’s susceptibility to araneophobia in the present; but it is probably due, in the main, to the spider’s unprepossessing features, and to his possession of venomous fangs.
ref: 1929, J. C. Squire, editor, The London Mercury, volume XX, page 330:
text: On the other hand, the subcategories pertinent to arachnid-produced phobias would only rarely lead to a definitive diagnosis of arachnophobia or the more specific scorpiophobia, araneophobia, or acarophobia.[…]This term, arachnophobia (fear of arachnids), has been used so often in connection with the disease condition of the Middle Ages known as “tarantism” that it has become synonymous with araneophobia (or araneidophobia). In technical reports, arachnophobia should only be used when there is assurance that the phobia is limited to all arachnids[…]. As with scorpions, these large-bodied arachnids [spiders] are spectacles of the media and currently exaggerated both as aesthetic trouble-free pets (“talk shows”) and as the central attraction in horror films. The wide distribution and overlap of habitat with animals must produce an acceleration of the number of cases of araneophobia.
ref: 1984, Herman Beerman, William B. Nutting, “Arachnid-Related Phobias: Symbiophobia, Preventions, and Treatments”, in William B. Nutting, editor, Mammalian Diseases and Arachnids, volumes II, “Medico-Veterinary, Laboratory, and Wildlife Diseases, and Control”, Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, →ISBN, pages 106–107:
text: Since most arthropods are usually harmless or beneficial to mankind, it may at first be hard to understand why araneophobia, the irrational fear of spiders, is so common.
ref: 1987 January, Lloyd E. King, “Spider Bites”, in Archives of Dermatology, volume 123, page 41, column 1:
text: Spiders have been given a “bad rap” by a sensation-seeking press that plays on one of humanity’s most common phobias, araneophobia (the irrational fear of spiders).
ref: 1987 October, E.W.T. Turgeon, “Insects and Spiders: Infestations and Bites”, in Canadian Family Physician, volume 33, page 2369, column 2:
text: Bites by spiders, otherwise known as arachnidism, seem to hold a particular terror for humans. There is significant fear of these organisms (araneophobia), and yet few actually cause disease.
ref: 1996, Mervyn L. Elgart, “Insect Bites and Stings”, in Kenneth A. Arndt, Philip E. LeBoit, June K. Robinson, Bruce U. Wintroub, editors, Cutaneous Medicine and Surgery: An Integrated Program in Dermatology, volume 1, Philadelphia, Pa.: W.B. Saunders Company, →ISBN, section “Arachnid Bites”, subsection “Definition”, page 811, column 1:
text: A good form of the protection of spiders would be ”curing” the society from araneophobia, which is unfortunately common in our country.
ref: 2001, Marzena Stańska, “Spiders Araneae of the Mazovian Lowland - the state of knowledge, threats and forms of conservation”, in Henryk Kot, Andrzej Dombrowski, editors, Strategia Ochrony Fauny na Nizinie Mazowieckiej, Siedlce: Mazowieckie Towarzystwo Ochrony Fauny, page 304:
text: There also are cases in which individuals develop an abnormal fear of spiders such that the mere sight of one can cause panic or hysteria, a condition called arachnophobia or, more specifically, araneophobia.
ref: [2002, Gary R. Mullen, “Spiders (Araneae)”, in Gary Mullen, Lance Durden, editors, Medical and Veterinary Entomology, Academic Press, →ISBN, page 427, column 2:
text: Araneophobia, or an irrational fear of spiders, is common among people in the United States.
ref: 2002 July, Harry E. Williams, Robert G. Breene, Riley S. Rees, Karen M. Vail, Carl Jones, “Introduction”, in The Black Widow Spider, The University of Tennessee Agricultural Extension Service, page 3:
text: (Note: because spiders are in the order Araneae, “araneophobia” would be, strictly speaking, the more precise, but less understood term for fear of spiders; yet when a psychologist refers to arachnophobia, this is almost always solely restricted to spiders.)
ref: [2018, Richard S. Vetter, Michael L. Draney, Christopher A. Brown, John T. Trumble, Dawn H. Gouge, Nancy C. Hinkle, Edward F. Pace-Schott, “Spider Fear Versus Scorpion Fear in Undergraduate Students at Five American Universities”, in American Entomologist, volume 64, number 2, page 79, column 3:
glosses: Synonym of arachnophobia.
synonyms: word: arachnophobia
Related terms: araneophobe