But what makes horror different from dread, and vise versa? To answer this slightly thorny question, I decided I would write a blog entry to discuss the differences between the many words for fear. So, I'm going to go in order of building fear intensity to describe each word. We will start off with the mildest, concern, and end with full-blown panic.
- Concern: Concern is what you feel when you think something potentially unpleasant may be going on. It is a very mild level of fear that you might not even think of as fear. When you think a child may be sick, or a friend might have had too much to drink, that's concern. Synonyms and related words for concern include worry, distress, disturb (if subtle), perturbation, agitation, disquiet, consternation, doubt, and qualm. Use these words when you want to imply that someone is worried about something that is implied to be happening or could happen in the distant future.
- Nervousness: Nervousness is what happens when you are scared that something might happen, but there is no real danger. Nervousness is that emotion you get when you're about to go on a really intense rollercoaster, or when you're walking on stage to make a big speech. Synonyms and related words for nervousness include worry, apprehension, dread (if used lightly), trepidation, uneasiness, and apprehension. Use these word when you want to imply worry or concern about something that is going to happen in the very near future, or when someone is afraid that something unpleasant could happen very soon.
- Fear: This unpleasant emotion is what you feel when you're sure something bad is going to happen, or when you're extremely worried that something is about to happen. It is stronger than nervousness, is characterized by strong or excessive worry, and is not as intense as terror. It's the emotion you feel when you're scared that something is out there in the dark making noises, or when you're reading a scary story and it's pulling you in a little too much. Synonyms and related words for fear are: dread, anxiety, paranoia, pang, suspense (if you are more curious than afraid) preoccupation (if unpleasant), obsession, nervousness (if strong), and disquiet (if strong). Use these words to describe strong worry that slowly builds, or a constant feeling that something bad is certainly going to happen.
- Paranoia is a strong suspicion and distrust of someone or something, but is not always related to fear.
- Anxiety is stronger than fear, and is related to intense worry about events that could happen in the future.
- Preoccupation is related to obsession, a worry you can't let go of that is frightening precisely because you can't let go of it.
- Dread is what you feel when you are strongly afraid of an event, thing, or place that you've seen before, and it is stronger than simple apprehension or anticipation. It's an actual fear of something very bad happening, an anticipation of danger.
- Terror: This is a strong type of fear that happens when something bad is happening, but you can't see the cause of it or understand what is happening. It is intense, painful, and a constant torment. Terror is the emotion you feel when you're running from something chasing you in a nightmare, or that a protagonist in a horror series might feel if they're aware the monster's around, but not sure where. Terror is related to words like panic, torment, fear (if strong), paranoia, dread (if strong), scare, and fright. Use words like these if your protagonist is experiencing something frightening, but cannot understand or see the cause of it.
- Horror: This is a strong type of fear elicited by something frightening that you have seen. It's the emotion you feel when you are watching the killer in a scary movie murder someone, or reading about something visually frightening. It can be defined as being the resolution to building terror. Horror is the emotion that a protagonist in a horror series feels upon actually seeing the monster. Horror is related to words like revulsion, disgust, nausea, dismay, awful, horrible, gruesome, terrible, disturbing, and dreadful. Use words like these if your protagonist is seeing someone or something frightening occur.
- Alarm: This emotion is caused by a sudden appearence of something dangerous, and is a strong, sharp fear. It's the fear you feel when the monster in a scary movie jumps out of the dark, or someone sneaks up behind you and grabs you suddenly. Alarm is the type of fear caused by jumpscares, sudden danger, and the possible threat of bodily harm. Synonyms and related words to alarm include fright, shock, startle, disturb (if sudden), and scare. Use these words to imply a sudden fright or fear caused by imminant danger or percieved imminant danger.
- Panic: Panic is extremely intense fear that causes one to become unreasonable or lose control of their mental faculties. Panic is extremely unpleasant and occurs when imminant danger is occuring or when someone is breaking down mentally and cannot take their fear any longer. It is sudden and all-encompassing. Panic is the emotion felt by someone who is running in fear of their life from a monster, killer, or other sudden and extremely dangerous thing. Synonyms and related words to panic include alarm (if very strong), terror (if strong) and horror (if strong). Use these words if you want to imply a strong fear that completely takes a person over, resulting in irrational behavior.