Synonym Usage
See afraid.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of frightened
Explanation
Someone who's frightened is scared or anxious. A frightened camper might tremble with fear as she listens to the scary campfire stories her counselor tells. When you're frightened, you feel fearful — you might be frightened of thunderstorms or frightened of strange dogs. A frightened airplane passenger might panic and cause other people to become frightened. The adjective comes from frighten — before the 1660s, the verb was instead fright. All of these words share an Old English root, fyrhtu, "fear, dread, trembling, or horrible sight."
Vocabulary lists containing frightened
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The 68-year-old was frightened and found it hard to sleep after a rogue builder left her roof with dislodged bricks and blocked gutters.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
But Cardinale acknowledged layoffs would be part of the cost-cuts, a prospect that frightened many in Hollywood after endless waves of job cuts at the two companies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
After some of the attacks, Weinberg would ask the frightened women to speak with other potential models who were nervous about letting him photograph them, according to the February court filing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
But despite the typos and inconsistencies in the emails, I understood how such an unsophisticated scam might actually be effective if the mark was sufficiently confused—or frightened.
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026
The strange sight of Rocinante and Don Quixote frightened them at first.
From "Adventures of Don Quixote" by Argentina Palacios
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
