Thesaurus results for INCUBUS

incubus

noun

Definition of incubus

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

Noun

The short, sharp argument in the MacNeil kitchen is an example of the upstairs demon pervading all bodies through hate.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 30 Oct. 2026
The golden deer and the Lakshmana rekha When word of Khara’s death reaches his brother Ravana, the demon king vows revenge on Rama and Lakshmana with the assistance of Maricha (a rakshasa).

— Tamanna Nangia, Encyclopedia Britannica, 30 Oct. 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

As the frightening phantom of Frank the Bunny warns, this parallel reality has a ticking clock that’ll result in its imminent collapse in just 28 days, 6 hours, 42 minutes, and 12 seconds.

— Jeff Spry, Space.com, 26 Oct. 2026
Fadal brought up her own phantom smells during a recent podcast conversation with Andrea Donsky, a nutritionist who’s written about and conducted research on this symptom.

— Maggie Ryan, Flow Space, 26 Aug. 2026

Definition of phantom

Noun

Throughout outer space lie stars and galaxies that resemble creepy creatures, spooky skulls and galactic ghouls.

— Mary Randolph, Scientific American, 31 Oct. 2026
Humanoid moths and demon babies, hitchhiking ghouls, the occasional sea monster and even a suspicious phantom kangaroo or two.

— Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 29 Oct. 2026

Definition of ghoul

Noun

People have since replaced the imp with fictional people like Sam and Dean Winchester and Wednesday Addams, public figures like Gypsy-Rose Blanchard and even mascots like Ronald McDonald.

— Angela Yang, NBC news, 7 Oct. 2026
Mykal-Michelle Harris from Raven’s Home guest stars as Ruby, a mischievous moon imp who tricks Vee.

— Allison McClain Merrill, Parents, 22 Sep. 2026

Definition of imp

Noun

There’s not a single shot of a healthy human being in the movie, only wraiths filmed in sickly shades of pink, red and blue.

— Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 23 Sep. 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

By century’s end, however, the specter of famine had largely receded (aside from tragedies of war and misgovernment, no small caveat).

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 23 Oct. 2026
While the weather painted a chaotic picture, stories from Malibu residents were of neighbors coming together as a community in a way only the specter of disaster could prompt.

— Noah Haggerty, Los Angeles Times, 17 Oct. 2026

Definition of specter

Noun

Title granted to the Virgin Mary in honor of her apparitions to three shepherd children (Saints Jacinta and Francisco Marto and Venerable Lucia dos Santos) in Fátima, Portugal, in 1917.

— Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 30 Oct. 2026
The location was a former sugarcane plantation notorious for cruelty, and accounts of apparitions in the water are a reminder of this history.

— Marcus Librizzi, The Conversation, 26 Oct. 2026

Definition of apparition

Browse Nearby Words

incubi

incubus

inculcate

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Style

“Incubus.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/incubus. Accessed 5 Nov. 2026.

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Synonyms of incubus

noun

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