incubus

noun

Definition of incubusnext
as in demon

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of incubus The Devil’s Museum, a satellite of the main collection, has amassed more than 3,000 depictions of demons, evil spirits and incubus from around the world. — Joe Yogerst, Forbes.com, 22 Apr. 2025 Your fame sits beside you like an incubus, and people are embarrassed and want to leave the room. — Candace Bushnell, Vogue, 23 Feb. 2025 This meaning is visualized in Henry Fuseli’s 1781 painting The Nightmare, which shows a woman sleeping peacefully on a couch while a nauseating monster—an incubus—sits portentously on her abdomen, unbeknownst to her. — Time, 28 Dec. 2022
Recent Examples of Synonyms for incubus
  1. demon
  2. banshee
  3. phantom
  4. ghoul
  5. imp
  6. wraith
  7. specter
  8. apparition
Noun
  • But Jesus eventually heals the man and casts the demons into a herd of pigs, which tumble over a cliff and drown.
    — John Blake, CNN Money, 2 Aug. 2026
  • Whether the Ohio Derby victor can pull off a letter-perfect speed-demon upset remains Chip Honcho’s question.
    — Guy Martin, Forbes.com, 1 Aug. 2026
Definition of demon
Noun
  • Three species of bats inhabit the site, and supernatural events—including the appearance of the gamekeeper’s ghost and the wail of a banshee—have been reported.
    — Patricia Doherty, Travel + Leisure, 22 May 2026
  • Weaving, even more than before, makes Grace an ingénue gone banshee.
    — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 14 Mar. 2026
Definition of banshee
Noun
  • On the 1994 comeback album Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins, Sparks imagined Liberace, who died in 1987, making his own comeback in the afterlife, adored again as a phantom haunting the Earth.
    — Al Shipley, SPIN, 31 July 2026
  • Left behind are her great-grandmother’s haunting journals detailing the story of her own phantom, and subsequently, her brutal murder.
    — Jennifer Maas, Variety, 25 July 2026
Definition of phantom
Noun
  • Night of the Living Dead centers all the action at a farmhouse, where seven people attempt to ward off the ghouls — without any prior knowledge of how to do so.
    — Wesley Stenzel, Entertainment Weekly, 5 June 2026
  • As boss-man turns into a cantering, slavering, apparently all-over treble-jointed ghoul, Young-cheol announces that his own living blood contains the only antidote.
    — Jessica Kiang, Variety, 29 May 2026
Definition of ghoul
Noun
  • At her very best, Emily behaves like a petulant pre-adolescent spoiled imp.
    — Liza Lentini, SPIN, 14 Apr. 2026
  • Mykal-Michelle Harris from Raven’s Home guest-stars as Ruby, a mischievous moon imp who tricks Vee.
    — Allison McClain Merrill, Parents, 27 Oct. 2025
Definition of imp
Noun
  • The score by Joseph Bishara is shivery with chorales that moan like wraiths in the wind.
    — Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 30 Apr. 2026
  • Pilots can see bad weather lurking in the distance hours before takeoff, glowing like a wraith on their digital maps.
    — Burkhard Bilger, New Yorker, 2 Mar. 2026
Definition of wraith
Noun
  • The specter of the aurora borealis appearing during totality in the skies above Iceland and Greenland during totality is getting eclipse chasers excited.
    — Jamie Carter, Space.com, 3 Aug. 2026
  • The specter of surveillance That’s not the case when the threats run in the opposite direction.
    — Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board, The Orlando Sentinel, 3 Aug. 2026
Definition of specter
Noun
  • That is, until miraculous apparitions turn it into a place to be.
    — Marta Balaga, Variety, 17 July 2026
  • The music starts to shift beginning with the third episode, when Lestat becomes overwhelmed by the apparition of his abusive maker and other ghosts, including Claudia, whose killing he’d been forced to witness firsthand.
    — Hannah Giorgis Yohannes, Vanity Fair, 13 July 2026
Definition of apparition

Browse Nearby Words

incubi
incubus
inculcate
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Cite this Entry

“Incubus.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/incubus. Accessed 7 Aug. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on incubus

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about incubus

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