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Dictionary:

panic

  (păn'ĭk) pronunciation
n.
  1. A sudden, overpowering terror, often affecting many people at once. See synonyms at fear.
  2. A sudden widespread alarm concerning finances, often resulting in a rush to sell property: a stock-market panic.
  3. Slang. One that is uproariously funny.
adj.
  1. Of, relating to, or resulting from sudden, overwhelming terror: panic flight.
  2. Of or resulting from a financial panic: panic selling of securities.
  3. often Panic Mythology. Of or relating to Pan.
tr. & intr.v., -icked, -ick·ing, -ics.

To affect or be affected with panic. See synonyms at frighten.

[From French panique, terrified, from Greek Pānikos, of Pan (a source of terror, as in flocks or herds), groundless (used of fear), from Pān, Pan. See Pan.]

panicky pan'ick·y adj.
 
 
Banking Dictionary: Panic

Sudden loss of public confidence in the financial markets, characterized by falling prices and business failures. Financial panics occurred at regular intervals in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

 
Thesaurus: panic

noun

  1. Great agitation and anxiety caused by the expectation or the realization of danger: affright, alarm, apprehension, dread, fear, fearfulness, fright, funk, horror, terror, trepidation. Slang cold feet. Idioms: fear and trembling. See fear/courage.
  2. Something or someone uproariously funny or absurd: absurdity. Informal hoot, joke, laugh, scream. Slang gas, howl, riot. Idioms: a laugh a minute. See laughter.

verb

    To fill with fear: affright, alarm, frighten, scare, scarify2, startle, terrify, terrorize. Archaic fright. Idioms: make one's blood run cold, make one's hair stand on end, scaresillystiff, scare the daylights out of. See fear/courage.

 
Antonyms: panic

n

Definition: extreme distress
Antonyms: calm, collectedness, confidence, contentment, peace, security

v

Definition: become, make afraid or distressed
Antonyms: be calm, be content, relax

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: panic

In economics, a severe financial disturbance, such as widespread bank failures, feverish stock speculation followed by a market crash, or a climate of fear caused by economic crisis or anticipation of such a crisis. The term is applied only to the initial, violent stage of financial upheaval rather than the whole decline in the business cycle (see depression and recession). Until the 19th century, economic fluctuations were largely connected with shortages of goods, market expansion, and speculation (as in the South Sea Bubble). Panics in the industrialized societies of the 19th – 20th centuries have reflected the increasing complexity of advanced economies. The Panic of 1857 in the U.S. had its seeds in the railroads' defaulting on their bonds and in the decline in the value of railroad securities; its effects were complex, including not only the closing of many banks but also severe unemployment in the U.S. and a money-market panic in Europe. The Panic of 1873, which began with financial crises in Vienna and New York, marked the start of a long-term contraction in the world economy. The most infamous panic began with the U.S. stock-market crash of 1929 (see Great Depression).

For more information on panic, visit Britannica.com.

 
Sports Science and Medicine: panic

A sudden unreasoning and overwhelming fear or terror, often affecting a group. It may occur in a state of high anxiety.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: panic,
crisis in financial and economic conditions, marked by public loss of confidence in the financial structure. Panics are characterized by a general rush of investors to convert their assets into cash, with runs on banks and a rapid fall of the securities market. Bank failures and bankruptcies naturally follow. Students of economic cycles have paid much attention to the process of panics, but without definitive result. Perhaps the earliest panic of modern capitalism occurred during 1720 in France and England. Known as the “Mississippi Bubble,” it was touched off by wild speculation in the stock of John Law's colonizing company (see Mississippi Scheme). The first major panic in the United States came in 1819, after the War of 1812. The panic of 1837 was much more severe; it was brought on primarily by irresponsible financial operations in Western lands. Another crisis in 1857 was caused in part by massive European speculation in American railroads. Thus, when the panic struck it affected both Europe and the United States. In 1869 stock manipulations brought on the panic known as Black Friday. In 1873 there was a financial crisis in Vienna, as well as an American panic marking the bitter contest between agrarians (see Populist party), caught by overextended credit, and the financial interests. That conflict continued and was again reflected in the crises that came in the panics of 1893 and 1907. No great panic occurred again until 1929, when the U.S. stock market crash helped to precipitate a worldwide financial crisis. Confidence was not restored until after 1933, and the effects of the panic were felt throughout the Great Depression of the 1930s. Since 1929, central banks have been quick to provide liquidity to falling markets in order to prevent panics. For example, when the New York Stock Exchange dropped over 508 points (22.6%) on Oct. 19, 1987, the Federal Reserve released a large sum of money overnight to meet demands on brokers.

Bibliography

See M. A. Bernstein, The Great Depression (1989); C. P. Kindleberger, Manias, Panics, and Crashes (1989); C. R. Morris, Money, Greed, and Risk (1999).

 
Word Tutor: panic
pronunciation

IN BRIEF: A sudden, unreasonable, overpowering fear.

pronunciation Leadership is the ability to hide your panic from others. — Unknown.

 
Wikipedia: panic
For psychological condition, see Panic attack

Panic is a sudden fear which dominates or replaces thinking and often affects groups of people or animals. Panics typically occur in disaster situations, or violent situations (such as robbery, home invasion, a shooting rampage, etc.) which may endanger the overall health of the affected group. The word panic derives from the name of the Greek god Pan, who was said to have the ability to cause extreme, irrational fear, especially in lonely or open places.

Prehistoric man used mass panic as a technique when hunting animals, especially ruminants. Herds reacting to unusually strong sounds or unfamiliar visual effects were directed towards cliffs, where they eventually jumped to their deaths when cornered.[citation needed]

Humans are also vulnerable to panic and it is often considered infectious, in the sense one person's panic may easily spread to other people nearby and soon the entire group acts irrationally, but people also have the ability to prevent and/or control their own and other's panic by disciplined thinking or training (such as disaster drills). Architects and city planners try to accommodate the symptoms of panic, such as herd behavior, during design and planning, often using simulations to determine the best way to lead people to a safe exit and prevent congestion (stampedes). The most effective methods are often nonintuitive. A tall column, approximately 1 ft (300 mm) in diameter, placed in front of the door exit at a precisely calculated distance, may speed up the evacuation of a large room by up to 30%, as the obstacle divides the congestion well ahead of the choke point.[citation needed]

In sociology, precipitate and irrational actions of a group are often referred to as panics, as for example "sex panic", "stock market panic". (See hysteria.) Panic is usually understood to mean active, but senseless behaviour (e.g. trying to flee in a random direction or suddenly attacking others without consideration), while hysteria often carries a more passive notion (as in crying uncontrollably). An influential theoretical treatment of panic by a sociologist is found in Neil J. Smelser's, Theory of Collective Behavior.

The science of panic management has found important practical applications in the armed forces and emergency services of the world.

Many highly publicized cases of deadly panic occurred during massive public events.

The layout of Mecca was extensively redesigned by Saudi authorities in an attempt to eliminate frequent stampedes, which kill an average of 250 pilgrims every year. [1]

Football stadiums have seen deadly crowd rushes and stampedes, such as at Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield, England, in 1989. This led to controlled entry gates and stricter rules by the end of the 1980s to regulate seating arrangements.

Etymology

"Panic" comes from Greek panikon, "pertaining to Pan." Pan is the god of woods and fields who was the source of mysterious sounds that caused contagious, groundless fear in herds and crowds, or in people in lonely spots.

Panic and the law

Most jurisdictions limit the freedom of speech in order to deter people from creating potentially dangerous panic situations, especially a false alarm (the classic example is shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theatre when in fact nothing is burning).

Some criminal defendants attempt to evade or reduce the severity of their conviction by claiming their violence was induced by a sense of panic. Certain jurisdiction may limit punishment in case one's actions for self-defense were excessively powerful because of panic reaction.

Panic experienced by air travellers during the last minutes of their lives aboard crashing commercial flights has been the basis of several multi-million dollar lawsuits brought against airlines, based on the legal concept of emotional suffering[citation needed].

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ Castelvecchi, Davide (2007-04-07), "Formula for Panic: Crowd-motion findings may prevent stampedes", Science News Online, <http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20070407/fob5.asp>

External links

Emotions
Alertness • Acceptance • Affection • Ambivalence • Anger • Angst • Anticipation • Anxiety • Apathy • Bitterness • Boredom • Calmness • Compassion • Contempt • Contentment • Confusion • Depression • Disgust • Doubt • Ecstasy • Embarrassment • Emptiness • Enmity • Enthusiasm • Envy • Epiphany • Euphoria • Fanaticism • Fear • Frustration • Gratification • Gratitude • Grief • Guilt • Happiness • Hate • Homesickness • Hope • Horror • Humiliation • Jealousy • Limerence • Loneliness • Love • Lust • Melancholia • Panic • Patience • Pity • Pride • Rage • Regret • Remorse • Repentance • Righteous indignation • Self-pity • Shame • Shyness • Suffering • Surprise

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
Translations: Translations for: Panic

Dansk (Danish)
1.
n. - panik
v. tr. - fremkalde panik hos
v. intr. - blive grebet af panik

idioms:

  • panic button    uforsigtig handling
  • panic stations    katastrofestemning

2.
n. - hirse

Nederlands (Dutch)
paniek, zeer grappig iemand, in paniek raken/ brengen, op zijn kop zetten (publiek), panisch, betreffende de god Pan

Français (French)
1.
n. - panique, affolement
v. tr. - affoler, paniquer, semer la panique dans
v. intr. - s'affoler, paniquer

idioms:

  • panic button    signal d'alarme
  • panic stations    panique générale

2.
n. - céréales (du millet)

Deutsch (German)
1.
n. - Panik
v. - in Panik geraten, in Panik versetzen

idioms:

  • panic button    Alarmknopf
  • panic stations    Notzustand

2.
n. - Panik

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - πανικός
v. - πανικοβάλλω/-ομαι
adj. - του πανικού, πανικός, του θεού Πάνα

idioms:

  • panic button    κουμπί έκτακτης ανάγκης
  • panic stations    κατάσταση έκτακτης ανάγκης

Italiano (Italian)
panico, allarmare, allarmarsi

idioms:

  • panic button    pulsante di emergenza
  • panic stations    stato di emergenza

Português (Portuguese)
n. - pânico (m)
v. - entrar em pânico
adj. - de emergência, sem fundamento, apavorado

idioms:

  • panic button    botão de emergência
  • panic stations    estação de emergência

Русский (Russian)
паника, паниковать, панический

idioms:

  • panic button    аварийная кнопка
  • panic stations    всеобщая паника

Español (Spanish)
1.
n. - pánico, terror
v. tr. - aterrar, infundir pánico
v. intr. - aterrorizarse, aterrarse, ser presa del pánico

idioms:

  • panic button    botón de alarma
  • panic stations    cundió el pánico, estado de alarma

2.
n. - mijo, panizo

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - panik, skräck
v. - råka i (gripas av) panik, sprida panik
adj. - panisk

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
恐慌, 惊惶, 惊慌的, 恐慌的, 没有理由的, 使恐慌, 使喝彩, 使大笑, 惊慌

idioms:

  • panic button    紧急按钮
  • panic stations    处于忙乱的状态

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 恐慌, 驚惶
adj. - 驚慌的, 恐慌的, 沒有理由的
v. tr. - 使恐慌, 使喝彩, 使大笑
v. intr. - 驚慌

idioms:

  • panic button    緊急按鈕
  • panic stations    處於忙亂的狀態

한국어 (Korean)
1.
n. - 돌연한 공포, 공황, 아주 재미 있는 것
v. tr. - 당황하게 하다, 공황이 나게 하다, 열광케 하다
v. intr. - 당황하다, 공황이 나다

2.
n. - 기장류

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 恐慌, 恐怖, パニック
v. - 恐慌に陥る, がひどくうろたえる

idioms:

  • panic button    非常ボタン
  • panic stations    パニック状態

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) مسعور, رعب, فزع, ذعر (فعل) يرعب, يفزع, يصيب بالذعر (صفه) ارتعابي, مفزع‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮בהלה, פניקה‬
v. tr. - ‮עורר בהלה, הצחיק‬
v. intr. - ‮נבהל, פחד‬
n. - ‮סוג עשב, דוחן - סוגי דגניים המשמשים כמספוא‬

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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Banking Dictionary. Dictionary of Banking Terms. Copyright © 2006 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Answers Corporation Antonyms. © 1999-2008 by Answers Corporation. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Sports Science and Medicine. The Oxford Dictionary of Sports Science & Medicine. Copyright © Michael Kent 1998, 2006, 2007. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/  Read more
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eSpindle provides personalized spelling and vocabulary tutoring online; free trial.  Read more
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