nightmare scenario
Dreaded possible outcome
A nightmare scenario is the worst possible outcome one can imagine for a given situation—the catastrophic case that planners hope to avoid: The nightmare scenario is a cyberattack that takes down the power grid.
The phrase appears frequently in discussions of risk, security, and contingency planning, where anticipating disasters helps prevent them.
- worst-caseMost unfavorable outcome imaginable
- catastropheDevastating, large-scale misfortune
- doomsdayProphesied world's end
- apocalypseTotal civilizational collapse
- nuclear optionMost drastic available action
total disaster · meltdown · disaster · horror · collapse · house of cards · unthinkable · point of no return · dread · doom · crisis · fallout · chaos · calamity · trainwreck · implosion · death spiral · freefall
- scenariosbest-case, worst-case, hypothetical, what-if, best case
- what-ifswhat if, hypothetical, thought experiment, speculation, conjecture
nightmare scenariodream scenario
Imagined perfect circumstances
best-case scenario · fairy-tale ending · utopian vision · happy ending · dream come true
nightmare, scenario, night, nightmares, nightmarish, scenarios, nights, mares, nightly