terror

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
terror/ˈterə(r)/

▶noun

• 1 extreme fear.

  ■ the use of terror to intimidate people.

  ■ a cause of terror.

  ■ (the Terror) the period of the French Revolution when the ruling Jacobin faction ruthlessly executed anyone considered a threat to their regime.

• 2 (also holy terror) informal a person causing trouble or annoyance.

– origin ME: from OFr. terrour, from L. terror, from terrere ‘frighten’.