What is "arachnophobia"

1925, from comb. form of arachnid + -phobia "fear."

n. An abnormal or irrational fear of arachnids (especially spiders).

Arachnophobia or arachnephobia is a specific phobia, the fear of spiders and other arachnids such as scorpions. The word is from .

Arachnophobia is a 1990 American horror comedy film directed by Frank Marshall and starring Jeff Daniels and John Goodman. It was the first film released by Hollywood Pictures, as well as being the directorial debut of Marshall.

The story centers on a newly discovered Venezuelan spider being transported to a small American town that produces a new species of deadly spiders, which begin killing the town's residents one by one.

Shooting took place in Venezuela and California and the film was released in the United States on July 18, 1990. It was a modest commercial success, gaining $53.21 million at the box office. It received generally positive reviews from critics.

Arachnophobia is a video game based on the film Arachnophobia. It was developed by BlueSky Software and Disney Software for the MS-DOS, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, and Amiga platforms.

The player assumes the role of Delbert McClintock, a bug-exterminator and character from the original film, fighting to save the United States from a horde of invading killer spiders. Delbert must go through houses in eight towns, killing spiders in each one. If Delbert succeeds in finishing all eight towns, the United Nations declares that the spider must become extinct, and commissions McClintock to work with Dr. Atherton to go to South America, home of the spiders.

Arachnophobia is the state of being afraid of spiders. Other uses include:

• Arachnophobia (film), a 1990 American comedy-horror film starring Jeff Daniels
• Arachnophobia (video game)