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stage fright

/ˌsteɪdʒ ˈfraɪt/
/steɪdʒ fraɪt/
IPA guide

Other forms: stage frights

If you've ever stood in front of an audience, suddenly frozen with fear and unable to speak, you know what stage fright is. Whenever you get nervous because you have to perform, you've got stage fright.

Sometimes stage fright gives an actor a queasy feeling when it's time for him walk onstage, and occasionally it makes a speaker completely unable to deliver her graduation speech because of dizziness, sweating, and a dry mouth. You can also call stage fright performance anxiety, since it always involves performing in front of an audience.

Definitions of stage fright
  1. noun
    fear that affects a person about to face an audience
    see moresee less
    type of:
    fear, fearfulness, fright
    an emotion experienced in anticipation of some specific pain or danger (usually accompanied by a desire to flee or fight)
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