afraid of heights
23
3.9
- adjective
:
tener miedo a las alturas
- I am really afraid of heights, so I avoid tall buildings.
And at one point the this woman gets on stage and she's afraid of heights.
- And at one point the this woman gets on stage and she's afraid of heights.
- They're in a bird suit and they're getting ready to jump off a mountain and they're afraid of heights.
- It's going to be some scary as I'm slightly afraid of heights.
Examples
-
I'm afraid of heights.
-
He's deathly afraid of heights.
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I hope you are not afraid of heights.
-
Are you afraid of heights?
-
"My sister is afraid of heights," he said.
Fiction book (1990) -
I am afraid of heights even ten feet up.
Fiction book (1997) -
I guess I never told you I'm afraid of heights.
Fiction book (1999) -
While the three boys were able to scale the fence, the girl was afraid of heights.
Blog text (29) -
I was mortally afraid of heights.
Fiction book (1992) -
Despite my childhood fantasies of flying, I was afraid of heights.
Fiction book (1994)
Synonyms
3
9.2
A strong fear of high places that makes you feel dizzy or panic
1
8.9
Feeling afraid when you are high up
Antonyms
How Afraid
23
3.9
494
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'having a fear of being in high places' is directly and transparently derived from the constituents: 'afraid' (experiencing fear) + the prepositional complement 'of heights' (fear concerning high places). This ADJ + of + NP construction is a common, compositional pattern in English and corresponds to similar analytic patterns in many other languages, so a B1 learner who knows the words will reliably understand it.
Etymology
Afraid of heights shows a clear picture: someone standing on a tall building or cliff, feeling afraid as the heights make the ground look very far below. That strong feeling of not wanting to look down is why the phrase means 'having a fear of being in high places'.