frighten

[ frahyt-n ]

verb (used with object)

1. to make afraid or fearful; throw into a fright; terrify; scare.

   Synonyms: intimidate, dismay, startle, shock

2. to drive (usually followed by away, off, etc.) by scaring:

   to frighten away pigeons from the roof.

verb (used without object)

1. to become frightened:

   a timid child who frightens easily.

frighten

/ ˈfraɪtən /

verb

1. to cause fear in; terrify; scare
2. to drive or force to go (away, off, out, in, etc) by making afraid

Derived Forms

• ˈfrighteningly, adverb
• ˈfrightening, adjective
• ˈfrightened, adjective

Other Words From

• frighten·a·ble adjective
• frighten·er noun
• frighten·ing·ly adverb
• non·frighten·ing adjective
• non·frighten·ing·ly adverb
• over·frighten verb
• un·frighten·ing adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of frighten¹

First recorded in 1660–70; fright + -en ¹

Idioms and Phrases

see scare out of one's wits .

Synonym Study

Frighten, alarm, scare, terrify, terrorize, appall all mean to arouse fear in people or animals. To frighten is to shock with sudden, startling, but usually short-lived fear, especially that arising from the apprehension of physical harm: to frighten someone by a sudden noise. To alarm is to arouse the feelings through the realization of some imminent or unexpected danger: to alarm someone by a scream. To scare is to frighten, often without the presence of real danger: Horror movies really scare me. To terrify is to strike with violent, overwhelming, or paralyzing fear: to terrify a city by lawless acts. To terrorize is to terrify in a general, continued, systematic manner, either wantonly or in order to gain control: His marauding armies terrorized the countryside. To appall is to overcome or confound by dread, dismay, shock, or horror: The suffering caused by the earthquake appalled him.

Example Sentences

Perhaps it was perpetuated by the need to seek refuge whenever something about the world would confuse or frighten me.

From Nautilus

As Barry recounts, at first Damji was frightened by all sounds, “because they were meaningless.”

From MIT Technology Review

When you see its expansive, vast scale — how dynamic it is, how much it can change by the season — and you realize how critically important it is, the prospect of losing it does frighten me.

From Washington Post

This disparity is not due to pandemic-frightened advertisers redirecting dollars away from publishers to put into platforms like Google, Facebook and Amazon.

From Digiday

Lupe Villagrana, the manager at Ridgepoint Apartments in Vista, recalled an incident last year in which one of her tenants accidentally broke into the wrong unit while intoxicated and frightened the neighbor.

From Voice of San Diego

Perhaps made doubly frightening because not only does the old man frighten Garfield and Odie, but he steals their candy as well.

From The Daily Beast

Indeed, his inept attempts to frighten off Stewie only make the situation worse.

From The Daily Beast

Big scary Transformer-like robots with heads ablaze that frighten the kids back across the treacherous desert?

From The Daily Beast

Their goal is to frighten women who have objected to forced hijab.

From The Daily Beast

This happens to be the perfect course of action, better to frighten you with the hellish episode of slavery.

From The Daily Beast

They foreclose without mercy, but that does not frighten their old patrons, who have the perennial optimism of the country.

From Project Gutenberg

They did at first endeavour with their weapons to frighten us, who, lying ashore, deterred them from one of their fishing-places.

From Project Gutenberg

His hand was not in; I had nothing to frighten him with, which we always must have in the beginning, or we labour in vain.

From Project Gutenberg

But instead of driving home their attack they thought to frighten them by a mere cannonade.

From Project Gutenberg

Should Gorton turn up he is just the one to frighten a defenceless woman, and purchase his own silence.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• agitate
• alarm
• astound
• awe
• daunt
• demoralize
• deter
• disconcert
• discourage
• dishearten
• dismay
• faze
• horrify
• intimidate
• perturb
• petrify
• startle
• terrify
• terrorize
• unnerve