frighten
Americanverb (used with object)
-
frightens,
present (3rd person singular)
-
frightened,
past participle, past
-
frightening
present participle
-
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)
-
frightens,
present (3rd person singular)
-
frightened,
past participle, past
-
frightening
present participle
verb
-
to cause fear in; terrify; scare
-
to drive or force to go (away, off, out, in, etc) by making afraid
Synonym Usage
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
Derived Forms
-
frightenernoun
-
overfrightenverb
-
frightenableadjective
-
frightenedadjective
-
frighteningadjective
-
nonfrighteningadjective
-
unfrighteningadjective
-
frighteninglyadverb
-
nonfrighteninglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
frightensimple
-
frightenssimple
-
have frightenedperfect
-
has frightenedperfect
-
am frighteningprogressive
-
are frighteningprogressive
-
is frighteningprogressive
-
have been frighteningperfect progressive
-
has been frighteningperfect progressive
Past
-
frightenedsimple
-
had frightenedperfect
-
was frighteningprogressive
-
were frighteningprogressive
-
had been frighteningperfect progressive
Future
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
Unit 1, Academic Vocabulary
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Terrify
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Terrify
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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.
See Examples For:
First used by Ottoman military "mehter" bands to frighten and demoralise the enemy, cymbals were a useful tool for an empire on the warpath.
From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026
I was aware that I didn’t want to frighten my kids with it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
“My concern is about the publicizing of these kinds of incidents as a tool to frighten people,” Weiser said.
From Salon ● May 14, 2026
In his speech to young people, the prime minister said he did not want to "frighten" his audience or put pressure on them.
From BBC ● Apr. 4, 2026
“We are not children trying to frighten one another,” he said.
From "The Haunting of Hill House" by Shirley Jackson
What frightens Atash Heil is the uncertainty of what an AI-dominated future might look like - and the speed of the transformation graduates have witnessed during their college years.
From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026
What frightens scientists more than the sheer numbers are that the cuts are arbitrary and manifestly pernicious.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2026
It frightens me how painfully ironic it feels to cover a film about my industry’s demise when it was “The Devil Wears Prada” that pointed me here in the first place.
From Salon ● May 1, 2026
I’m not here to persuade you to fly if it frightens you that much.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 9, 2026
It is not only the size of these redwoods but their strangeness that frightens them.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck
Once inside her childhood home, Annie was frightened by what she found—her mother’s purse and iPhone, items Nancy always kept close at hand.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026
"We are frightened about the impact on Bordeaux and the metropolitan area," he said.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
When Odysseus’ men arrive at Circe’s home, hungry, asking to be fed, Circe seems frightened — understandably so.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026
A place outsiders might dismiss as decadent was also where money was raised, grief was gathered and a frightened community turned nightlife into a lifeline.
From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026
She had a grouchy face, and when Sam had seen her for the first time, he had been frightened by her face.
From "All About Sam" by Lois Lowry
It inherently asks us to consume these people and needs us to in order to make money, but sometimes consumers want to unhinge their jaws and eat these stars whole, a frightening and unsettling behavior.
From Slate ● Aug. 5, 2026
Despite the frightening image of spiders presented in movies such as Arachnophobia, most species pose no danger to people.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026
COVID-19 created the conditions in which conspiracy theories flourish: enormous uncertainty, frightening consequences, rapidly changing information and distrust of institutions.
From Salon ● Aug. 2, 2026
That frightening detail comes from Sydney Croasmun, vice president of the Ridge Route preservation group.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026
Meanwhile, Quinby excavated with an energy that was almost frightening.
From "Willodeen" by Katherine Applegate
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.
