acronym🔤 abbreviation
FOMO
fear of missing out
What it means
FOMO stands for 'fear of missing out' — the anxious feeling that exciting things are happening without you, often fueled by social media. Pronounced as a word ('FOH-moh'), it can describe both a fleeting twinge and a broader habit of overcommitting so you don't miss anything.
Words like “FOMO” are exactly the kind of vocabulary our English vocabulary size test measures — find out how many English words you know.
Examples
- I wasn't even tired, but FOMO made me go out anyway.
- Seeing their vacation photos gave me serious FOMO.
- He bought tickets purely out of FOMO.
- Deleting the app cured a lot of my FOMO.
Where it comes from
An acronym popularized around 2010 as social media made everyone's activities constantly visible. It spawned the counter-term JOMO, 'joy of missing out.'
Related abbreviations
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