frighten
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to make afraid or fearful; throw into a fright; terrify; scare.
- Synonyms:
- intimidate, dismay, startle, shock
-
to drive (usually followed by away, off, etc.) by scaring.
to frighten away pigeons from the roof.
verb (used without object)
verb
-
to cause fear in; terrify; scare
-
to drive or force to go (away, off, out, in, etc) by making afraid
Related Words
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.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of frighten
Explanation
To frighten is to make someone feel afraid. Your new look — pink hair, tattoos, and piercings — will probably frighten your grandparents. If horror movies and haunted houses frighten you, they scare you, and all it might take to frighten your skittish cat is the sound of the vacuum cleaner or coffee grinder. Frighten is the verb form of the noun fright. although originally the verb was also fright. The Old English source is fyrhtu, "fear, dread, trembling, or horrible sight."
Vocabulary lists containing frighten
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Terrify
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Terrify
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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.
They suggest this may represent a medieval form of "fake news," or perhaps an exaggerated story intended to frighten people with warnings of divine punishment.
From Science Daily • May 13, 2026
The risk of similar consequences might be enough to frighten off many providers.
From Slate • Feb. 21, 2026
But it does hint strongly at extraterrestrial visitors being revealed to humankind with a tagline: "If you found out we weren't alone, if someone showed you, proved it to you, would that frighten you?"
From BBC • Dec. 27, 2025
The capacity of film to genuinely frighten, via editing, camera, music and—notably in a Wan film—ambient sound was being abandoned in favor of gore and giggles.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 2, 2025
"This little pipsqueak is trying to frighten us, but he has got a lot to learn about lying. Isn't that right, Jay?"
From "Born Behind Bars" by Padma Venkatraman
Definitions 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.
