NIGHTMARE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does nightmare mean? 

• NIGHTMARE (noun)
  The noun NIGHTMARE has 2 senses:

1. a situation resembling a terrifying dream

2. a terrifying or deeply upsetting dream

  Familiarity information: NIGHTMARE used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• NIGHTMARE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A situation resembling a terrifying dream

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

incubus; nightmare

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

situation (a complex or critical or unusual difficulty)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A terrifying or deeply upsetting dream

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

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

dream; dreaming (a series of mental images and emotions occurring during sleep)

 Context examples 

As for myself, I was oppressed with nightmare.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

We waited in a suspense that made the seconds pass with nightmare slowness.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The next thing I remember is, waking up with a feeling as if I had had a frightful nightmare, and seeing before me a terrible red glare, crossed with thick black bars.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

And through it all Buck staggered along at the head of the team as in a nightmare.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

As in a nightmare, he strove under the hand.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Representative examples include nightmare disorders, sleep terror disorders, sleepwalking, and restless leg syndrome.

(Parasomnia, NCI Thesaurus)

I slept after the prostration of the day, with a stringent and profound slumber which not even the nightmares that wrung me could avail to break.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

They may have chest pains or nightmares.

(Anxiety, NIH: National Institute of Mental Health)

All these types of nightmares have happened to friends.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

"Fancy starch" was Martin's nightmare, and it was Joe's, too.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)