Choose the correct one-word substitute for: 'Fear of confined spaces'.

Correct — C. The phrase has one deciding word: confined, meaning enclosed or shut in.

Claustrophobia joins Latin claustrum, 'a bolt, an enclosed place', to -phobia, 'fear'. It is the fear of being in small, enclosed spaces.

Fear + confined spaces = Claustrophobia → option (c).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Agoraphobia — Agoraphobia is fear of open or crowded public places, from Greek agora, 'marketplace'. It is the fear of the open square, not the shut room.
• (b)
  Hydrophobia — Hydrophobia is fear of water, from the Greek root hydro-, 'water'. It is also an old name for rabies in humans.
• (d)
  Acrophobia — Acrophobia is fear of heights, from Greek akron, 'summit' or 'tip'. Height, not enclosure, is what it fears.

Phobia names are built as root + -phobia, and the root tells you what is feared. Learn the roots and each name decodes itself.

The four roots here are claustro- (enclosed place), agora- (marketplace, open public space), hydro- (water) and acro- (height, summit).

The phrase turns on confined, which matches claustro- and nothing else. Agoraphobia is the lure: open spaces set against closed ones.

Key facts

• Claustrophobia is an extreme or irrational fear of confined places.
• Agoraphobia is fear of open or crowded places, or of places that are hard to escape from.
• Acrophobia is fear of heights.
• Hydrophobia is fear of water, and an old name for rabies in humans.

Common traps

• Swapping agoraphobia and claustrophobia, the open-space and closed-space fears

No directly related past PYQ was found.