- 1(medical) a mental illness in which a person may wrongly believe that other people are trying to harm them, that they are somebody very important, etc. Wordfinderconditionanorexia, autism, bipolar disorder, condition, dementia, depression, mentally, paranoia, psychosis, schizophrenia Oxford Collocations Dictionary adjectiverampant, extreme, severe, … verb + paranoiasuffer from, border on, verge on, … paranoia + verbkick in, set in, grip somebody, … See full entry See related entries: Mental and emotional problems
- 2(informal) fear or suspicion of other people when there is no evidence or reason for this Oxford Collocations Dictionary adjectiverampant, extreme, severe, … verb + paranoiasuffer from, border on, verge on, … paranoia + verbkick in, set in, grip somebody, … See full entry See related entries: Mental and emotional problems, Fear Word Originearly 19th cent.: modern Latin, from Greek, from paranoos ‘distracted’, from para ‘irregular’ + noos ‘mind’.Extra examples External threats will just fuel paranoia among those in power. He was gripped by paranoia. Her passion for cleanliness borders on paranoia. I was guilty perhaps of mild paranoia. The drugs can induce paranoia. The paranoia is setting in. The regime is in the grip of severe paranoia. the anti-communist paranoia of the 1950s his paranoia that people might find out
paranoia
nounBrE BrE//ˌpærəˈnɔɪə//; NAmE NAmE//ˌpærəˈnɔɪə//
[uncountable] Mental and emotional problems, FearCheck pronunciation: paranoia
