INCUBUS (incubi)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: incubi   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does incubus mean? 

• INCUBUS (noun)
  The noun INCUBUS has 3 senses:

1. a male demon believed to lie on sleeping persons and to have sexual intercourse with sleeping women

2. a situation resembling a terrifying dream

3. someone who depresses or worries others

  Familiarity information: INCUBUS used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INCUBUS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A male demon believed to lie on sleeping persons and to have sexual intercourse with sleeping women

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("incubus" is a kind of...):

daemon; daimon; demon; devil; fiend (an evil supernatural being)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A situation resembling a terrifying dream

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

incubus; nightmare

Hypernyms ("incubus" is a kind of...):

situation (a complex or critical or unusual difficulty)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Someone who depresses or worries others

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("incubus" is a kind of...):

disagreeable person; unpleasant person (a person who is not pleasant or agreeable)

 Context examples 

Relieved of the incubus that had fastened upon him for so long a time, and of the dreadful apprehensions under which he had lived, he is hardly the same person.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

He was appalled at the problem confronting him, weighted down by the incubus of his working-class station.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

You should hear mama on the chapter of governesses: Mary and I have had, I should think, a dozen at least in our day; half of them detestable and the rest ridiculous, and all incubi—were they not, mama?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)