worst nightmare

noun

: the thing someone fears most
Losing a child is every parent's worst nightmare.

Examples of worst nightmare in a Sentence

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To close on Pizza Movie, if your worst nightmare was to chase after you with a chainsaw, what would it be visually represented as? Brian Davids, HollywoodReporter, 14 Apr. 2026 Sadie Robertson experienced every parent's worst nightmare when her 8-month-old daughter, Kit, stopped breathing after choking on a snack. Leigh Blickley, Entertainment Weekly, 13 Apr. 2026 Her father, Rossel Reyes Martinez, said their daughter's death was the realization of a parent's worst nightmare. ABC News, 10 Apr. 2026 That would be her worst nightmare, if anything happened to him. Hunter Ingram, Variety, 3 Apr. 2026 See All Example Sentences for worst nightmare

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“Worst nightmare.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/worst%20nightmare. Accessed 21 Apr. 2026.

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