daymare

American  

[dey-mair] / ˈdeɪˌmɛər /

noun

1. a distressing experience, similar to a bad dream, occurring while one is awake.

2. an acute anxiety attack.

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Etymology

Origin of daymare

First recorded in 1730–40; day + (night)mare

Explanation

A daymare is a waking nightmare — a horrifying experience or vividly intrusive thought that occurs while you're wide awake. Daymare is a play on nightmare, in which the Old English mare refers to a spirit or goblin thought to sit on sleepers' chests, smothering them. A daymare brings that same sense of suffocating dread into the light of day. A daymare can be a literal waking hallucination, a vivid "what-if" scenario running through your mind, or a real-world disaster that feels too awful to be true. A daymare is any waking moment that leaves you desperate to "wake up."

Example Sentences

It’s tantalizingly oddball and indelicate: a combined daymare and night odyssey that scratches until a feral hidden strength is revealed in the misfit main character, captivatingly played by Indian star Radhika Apte.

From Los Angeles Times • May 23, 2025

“Our long national nightmare and daymare is over,” he said.

From Washington Post • Dec. 20, 2022

Alexander Payne Opinions vary about this satirical fantasy from Alexander Payne, a sci-fi daymare about a world in which it is scientifically possible to reduce yourself to the size of a matchbox.

From The Guardian • Jan. 2, 2018

A peaceful drive through farmland suddenly turns into a daymare as the customer gets what he's paid for.

From Time Magazine Archive

In the meantime, the recollection of this sin of mine has been my nightmare and daymare too, and the sin has been the 'Blot on my escutcheon.'

From The Letters of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Barrett, Vol. 1 (of 2) 1845-1846 by Browning, Robert