as in anxiety
a feeling that one does not know the whole truth or that someone else is not being truthful
Each half of the unhappy couple was constantly wracked with paranoia that the other was cheating.
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Recent Examples of paranoia
General paranoia about Fidesz spies means that Budapest, once again, has become a city where people lower their voices when talking about politics in public.
—
Anne Applebaum, The Atlantic, 27 Mar. 2026
What starts as a simple comedy about identity and imposter syndrome quickly shifts into a violent psychological thriller about government surveillance, paranoia, and personhood.
—Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 27 Mar. 2026
Voter fraud conspiracies are like methamphetamine running through MAGA veins, stirring up equal parts passion and paranoia.
—Los Angeles Times, 26 Mar. 2026
None of this requires paranoia.
—Lauren Schuster, Miami Herald, 25 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for paranoia
Anne Applebaum, The Atlantic, 27 Mar. 2026
What starts as a simple comedy about identity and imposter syndrome quickly shifts into a violent psychological thriller about government surveillance, paranoia, and personhood.
—Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 27 Mar. 2026
Voter fraud conspiracies are like methamphetamine running through MAGA veins, stirring up equal parts passion and paranoia.
—Los Angeles Times, 26 Mar. 2026
None of this requires paranoia.
—Lauren Schuster, Miami Herald, 25 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for paranoia
Recent Examples of Synonyms for paranoia
Noun
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Amid record anxiety about the future of work—and growing warnings about the potential erosion of white-collar careers—one unlikely field may be getting the last laugh.—
Preston Fore,
Fortune,
5 Apr. 2026
-
Drone use is heavily limited by battery anxiety, but without a battery the use cases really open up.—
Omar Kardoudi
April 05,
New Atlas,
5 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Even before the Iran war sent gas prices soaring, many Americans were still recovering from the pandemic-era inflation spike and continued to cite affordability as a major concern.—
Aimee Picchi,
CBS News,
9 Apr. 2026
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Another Antarctic species -- the Southern elephant seal -- is also now at risk of extinction due to bird flu, moving from least concern to vulnerable, according to researchers.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
9 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Altman is often described, either with reverence or with suspicion, as the greatest pitchman of his generation.—
Ronan Farrow,
New Yorker,
6 Apr. 2026
-
However, the magazine acknowledged that the Q&A was conducted by email and not live, leading some to believe ad advisor was writing the answers for him, on top of suspicions that the WSJ ad may have been ghost-written as well.—
Chris Willman,
Variety,
5 Apr. 2026
Noun
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People all over the globe were in disbelief that a man could perpetuate a campaign of drugging and raping his wife without her knowledge, and even more sickened that dozens of men joined him in his crimes.—
Glamour,
Glamour,
1 Apr. 2026
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Speaking to The New York Times, neighbors in the couple's South Dakota community reacted with disbelief and sympathy to the report.—
Marni Rose McFall,
MSNBC Newsweek,
1 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Paranoia.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/paranoia. Accessed 10 Apr. 2026.
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