agoraphobia
noun
- phobic disorder involving the specific anxiety about being in a place or situation where escape is difficult or embarrassing or where help may be unavailable.
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˌæɡ.ə.ɹəˈfəʊ.bi.ə/ / /əˌɡɔː.ɹəˈfəʊ.bi.ə/ / /ˌæɡ.ɚ.əˈfoʊ.bi.ə/
noun
Etymology: From Latin agoraphobia, from Ancient Greek ἀγορά (agorá, “assembly”) + φοβία (phobía, “fear”). By surface analysis, agora + -phobia. Coined by Karl Friedrich Otto Westphal in 1871.
- The fear of wide open spaces, crowds, or uncontrolled social conditions.
“Now, you know that the classical analytical explanation of agoraphobia of the early 1900s was that it represented a street phobia because the patient equated streetwalking with prostitutional activity[…]”
- An aversion to markets.
“For quotations using this term, see Citations:agoraphobia.”