trigger warning
Heads-up for sensitivity
A trigger warning is a notice that upcoming content may cause distress, particularly for people with trauma, phobias, or mental health conditions.
Common in academic settings and online spaces, trigger warnings alert readers or viewers to potentially disturbing material—violence, sexual assault, eating disorders, suicide.
Critics argue they encourage avoidance rather than resilience; proponents see them as a courtesy that lets people prepare emotionally.
The article included a trigger warning for graphic descriptions of combat.
- heads-upInformal advance warning
- notificationFormal notice given
- flashbackInvoluntary past memory
- panic attackSudden intense fear episode
- traumaLasting psychological wound
PTSD · snowflake generation · college campus · dissociation · avoidance behavior · alert · notice · viewer discretion · graphic violence · sexual assault · coping mechanisms · disclaimer · emotional distress · caution · preface · coping · sensitivity · suicidal ideation
- fanfictionfanfiction, fan fiction, fic, fanfic, slash
- millennialsavocado toast, student debt, student loans, side hustle, adulting
- fanspeakOTP, ship, fic, fanfic, fanfiction
- social equityracial justice, disability rights, racial equity, diversity training, intersectionality
- feminismfeminism, feminist theory, gender equality, women's rights, feminist novels
- madnessmadness, lunacy, insanity, mania, schizophrenia
trigger warningcold open
Pre-title sequence segment
without notice · without warning · ambush · surprise reveal · no-holds-barred
trigger warningshock value
Capacity to disturb
blindside · jump scare · sucker punch · gotcha moment · ambush journalism
trigger warningsink or swim
Succeed alone or fail
exposure therapy · desensitization · trial by fire · baptism by fire · tough love
warning, trigger, triggers, triggered, triggering, hair-trigger, triggerman, untriggered, retrigger