The Wordsmith Dictionary

Fright, n. Etym: [OE. frigt, freyht, AS. fyrhto, fyrhtu; akin to OS. forhta, OHG. forhta, forahta, G. furcht, Dan. frygt, Sw. fruktan, Goth. faúrhtei fear, faúrhts timid. ]

1. A state of terror excited by the sudden appearance of danger; sudden and violent fear, usually of short duration; a sudden alarm.

2. Anything strange, ugly or shocking, producing a feeling of alarm or aversion. [Colloq. ]

Syn. -- Alarm; terror; consternation. See Alarm.

FRIGHT

Fright, v. t. [imp. Frighted; p. pr. & vb. n.. Frighting.] Etym: [OE. frigten to fear, frighten, AS. fyrhtan to frighten, forhtian to fear; akin to OS. forhtian, OHG. furihten, forahtan, G. fürchten, Sw. frukta, Dan. frygte, Goth. faurhtjan. See Fright, n., and cf. Frighten. ]

Defn: To alarm suddenly; to shock by causing sudden fear; to terrify; to scare. Nor exile or danger can fright a brave spirit. Dryden.

Syn. -- To affright; dismay; daunt; intimidate.

FRIGHTEN

Fright "en, v. t. [imp. Frightened; p. pr. & vb. n. Frightening. ]Etym: [See Fright, v. t.]

Defn: To disturb with fear; to throw into a state of alarm or fright; to affright; to terrify. More frightened than hurt. Old Proverb.

FRIGHTFUL

FRIGHTFUL Fright "ful, a.

1. Full of fright; affrighted; frightened. [Obs. ] See how the frightful herds run from the wood. W. Browne.

2. Full of that which causes fright; exciting alarm; impressing terror; shocking; as, a frightful chasm, or tempest; a frightful appearance.

Syn. -- Terrible; dreadful; alarming; fearful; terrific; awful; horrid; horrible; shocking. -- Frightful, Dreadful, Awful. These words all express fear. In frightful, it is a sudden emotion; in dreadful, it is deeper and more prolonged; in awful, the fear is mingled with the emotion of awe, which subdues us before the presence of some invisible power. An accident may be frightful; the approach of death is dreadful to most men; the convulsions of the earthquake are awful.

FRIGHTFULLY

FRIGHTFULLY Fright "ful *ly, adv.

Defn: In a frightful manner; to a frightful dagree.

FRIGHTFULNESS

FRIGHTFULNESS Fright "ful *ness, n.

Defn: The quality of being frightful.

FRIGHTLESS

FRIGHTLESS Fright "less, a.

Defn: Free from fright; fearless. [Obs. ]

FRIGHTMENT

FRIGHTMENT Fright "ment, n.

Defn: Fear; terror. [Obs. ]

New American Oxford Dictionary

fright

fright |frīt fraɪt | ▶noun a sudden intense feeling of fear: I jumped up in fright. • an experience that causes one to feel sudden intense fear: she's had a nasty fright | I got the fright of my life seeing that woman in the hotel. ▶verb [ with obj. ] archaic frighten: come, be comforted, he shan't fright you. PHRASES look a fright informal have a disheveled or grotesque appearance. take fright suddenly become frightened or panicked. ORIGIN Old English fryhto, fyrhto (noun ), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch furcht and German Furcht .

frighten

fright en |ˈfrītn ˈfraɪtn | ▶verb [ with obj. ] make (someone ) afraid or anxious: the savagery of his thoughts frightened him | people were no longer easily frightened into docility. • (frighten someone /something off ) deter someone or something from involvement or action by making them afraid. • [ no obj. ] (of a person ) become afraid or anxious: at his age, I guess he doesn't frighten any more. DERIVATIVES fright en er |ˈfrītn -ər |noun

frightened

fright ened |ˈfrītnd ˈfraɪtnd | ▶adjective afraid or anxious: a frightened child.

frightening

fright en ing ▶adjective making someone afraid or anxious; terrifying: a frightening experience. DERIVATIVES fright en ing ly |ˈfrītn -iNGlē |adverb

frightful

fright ful |ˈfrītfəl ˈfraɪtfəl | ▶adjective very unpleasant, serious, or shocking: there's been a frightful accident. • informal used for emphasis, esp. of something bad: her hair was a frightful mess. DERIVATIVES fright ful ness noun

frightfully

fright ful ly |ˈfrītfəlē ˈfraɪtfəli | ▶adverb [ as submodifier ] Brit. dated very (used for emphasis ): it was frightfully hot | I'm frightfully sorry.

fright wig

fright wig |fraɪt wɪɡ | ▶noun a wig with the hair arranged standing up or sticking out, as worn by a clown or similar performer.

Oxford Dictionary

fright

fright |frʌɪt | ▶noun [ mass noun ] a sudden intense feeling of fear: I jumped up in fright. • [ count noun ] an experience that causes one to feel sudden intense fear: she's had a nasty fright. ▶verb [ with obj. ] archaic frighten. PHRASES look a fright informal have a dishevelled or ridiculous appearance. take fright suddenly become frightened or panicked. ORIGIN Old English fryhto, fyrhto (noun ), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch furcht and German furcht .

frighten

fright ¦en |ˈfrʌɪt (ə )n | ▶verb [ with obj. ] make (someone ) afraid or anxious: the savagery of his thoughts frightened him | farmers are being frightened into scaling down their breeding plans. • (frighten someone /thing off ) deter someone or something from involvement or action by making them afraid. PHRASES frighten the horses see horse.

frightened

fright |ened |ˈfrʌɪtnd | ▶adjective afraid or anxious: a frightened child | I'm not frightened of him.

frightener

fright |en ¦er |ˈfrʌɪt (ə )nə | ▶noun a person or thing that frightens someone. • Brit. informal a member of a criminal gang who intimidates its victims. PHRASES put the frighteners on Brit. informal threaten or intimidate (someone ).

frightening

fright ¦en |ing |ˈfrʌɪt (ə )nɪŋ, ˈfrʌɪtnɪŋ | ▶adjective making someone afraid or anxious; terrifying: a frightening experience. DERIVATIVES frighteningly adverb [ as submodifier ] : the standard air fare proved to be frighteningly expensive

frightful

fright |ful |ˈfrʌɪtfʊl, -f (ə )l | ▶adjective chiefly Brit. very unpleasant, serious, or shocking: there's been a most frightful accident. • informal used for emphasis, especially of something bad: her hair was a frightful mess. DERIVATIVES frightfulness noun

frightfully

fright |ful ¦ly |ˈfrʌɪtfəli | ▶adverb [ as submodifier ] dated very (used for emphasis ): it was frightfully hot | I'm frightfully sorry.

fright wig

fright wig ▶noun a wig with the hair arranged standing up or sticking out, as worn by a clown or similar performer.

American Oxford Thesaurus

fright

fright noun 1 she was paralyzed with fright: fear, fearfulness, terror, horror, alarm, panic, dread, trepidation, dismay, nervousness, apprehension, apprehensiveness, perturbation, disquiet; informal jitteriness, twitchiness. 2 the experience gave everyone a fright : a scare, a shock, a surprise, a turn, a jolt, a start; the shivers, the shakes; informal the jitters, the heebie-jeebies, the willies, the creeps, a cold sweat, butterflies (in one's stomach ). 3 informal she looked an absolute fright: ugly sight, eyesore, monstrosity; informal mess, sight, state, blot on the landscape.

frighten

frighten verb the fighting in the streets frightened us: scare, startle, alarm, terrify, petrify, shock, chill, panic, shake, disturb, dismay, unnerve, unman, intimidate, terrorize, cow, daunt; strike terror into, put the fear of God into, chill someone to the bone /marrow, make someone's blood run cold; informal scare the living daylights out of, scare stiff, scare someone out of their wits, scare witless, scare to death, scare the pants off, spook, make someone's hair stand on end, make someone jump out of their skin, give someone the heebie-jeebies, make someone's hair curl, scare the bejesus out of; archaic affright.

frightening

frightening adjective a frightening story about bloodthirsty aliens: terrifying, horrifying, alarming, startling, white-knuckle, chilling, spine-chilling, hair-raising, blood-curdling, bone-chilling, disturbing, unnerving, intimidating, daunting, dismaying, upsetting, harrowing, traumatic; eerie, sinister, fearsome, nightmarish, macabre, menacing; eldritch; informal scary, spooky, creepy, hairy.

frightful

frightful adjective the house was in a frightful mess: horrible, horrific, ghastly, horrendous, serious, awful, dreadful, terrible, nasty, grim, dire, unspeakable; alarming, shocking, terrifying, harrowing, appalling, fearful; hideous, gruesome, grisly; informal horrid; formal grievous.

Oxford Thesaurus

fright

fright noun 1 Amanda was paralysed with fright: fear, fearfulness, terror, horror, alarm, panic, dread, trepidation, uneasiness, nervousness, apprehension, apprehensiveness, consternation, dismay, perturbation, disquiet, discomposure; informal jitteriness, twitchiness. 2 the experience gave everyone a bit of a fright: scare, shock, surprise, turn, jolt, start; the shivers, the shakes; informal the jitters, the heebie-jeebies, the willies, the creeps, the collywobbles, a cold sweat; Brit. informal the (screaming ) abdabs, butterflies (in one's stomach ). 3 informal she didn't want to look a fright on her wedding day: ugly sight, horrible sight, grotesque sight, eyesore, monstrosity, horror, frightful spectacle; informal mess, sight, state, blot on the landscape. ANTONYMS beauty.

frighten

frighten verb she was frightened by the strange sounds outside: scare, startle, alarm, terrify, petrify, shock, chill, appal, agitate, panic, throw into panic, fluster, ruffle, shake, disturb, disconcert, unnerve, unman, intimidate, terrorize, cow, daunt, dismay; fill someone with fear, strike terror into, put the fear of God into, chill someone's blood, chill someone to the bone, chill someone to the marrow, make someone's blood run cold, freeze someone's blood, make someone's flesh crawl, give someone goose pimples; informal scare the living daylights out of, scare stiff, scare someone out of their wits, scare witless, scare someone (half ) to death, scare the pants off, rattle, spook, make someone's hair stand on end, throw into a blue funk, make someone jump out of their skin; Brit. informal put the wind up, give someone the heebie-jeebies, make someone's hair curl; Irish informal scare the bejesus out of; vulgar slang scare shitless; archaic affright. ANTONYMS reassure, comfort. CHOOSE THE RIGHT WORD frighten, scare, startle These three words can all describe the generation of fear. ■ Frighten is the most general word (he only meant to frighten his victim, not to kill him ). The fear may be of immediate harm (typically physical ) or of longer-term misfortune or suffering (I was uncertain what would happen and frightened about the future ). ■ Scare is a less formal word, especially when applied to fear of something other than an immediate physical threat. Saying that someone is scared may imply that they lack courage or strength of character (I was scared of meeting people ). ■ Startle denotes a sudden, momentary feeling of fear on being surprised by something (a sudden sound in the doorway startled her ).These notes show fine distinctions in meaning between closely related synonyms to help you find the best word.

frightening

frightening adjective she had many vivid and frightening dreams: terrifying, horrifying, alarming, startling, shocking, chilling, spine-chilling, hair-raising, blood-curdling, appalling, disturbing, disconcerting, unnerving, intimidating, daunting, dismaying, upsetting, harrowing, traumatic; eerie, sinister, fearsome, dreadful, horrible, awful, nightmarish, monstrous, grim, gruesome, macabre, menacing; Scottish eldritch; informal scary, spooky, creepy, hairy. ANTONYMS comforting.

frightful

frightful adjective 1 he had some frightful wounds: horrible, gruesome, grisly, ghastly, hideous, grim, revolting, repulsive, disgusting, horrendous, grievous, dreadful, terrible, nasty, dire, unspeakable; alarming, shocking, terrifying, harrowing, appalling, daunting, unnerving, fearful, fearsome; informal horrid, beastly; archaic or humorous parlous. ANTONYMS mild. 2 informal the children were making a frightful racket: awful, very bad, terrible, dreadful, appalling, ghastly, nasty, abominable; unpleasant, disagreeable, lamentable, deplorable, insufferable, unbearable, annoying, irritating; informal beastly, God-awful. ANTONYMS pleasant.

Sanseido Wisdom Dictionary

fright

fright /fraɪt /〖原義は「突然の激しい恐怖」〗名詞 1 C 〖通例 a ～〗恐ろしい体験 [考え ]; U (突然の一時的な )恐怖 (感 ), (ぞっとするような )恐ろしさ (fear ); あがること ▸ give A a fright A 〈人〉を驚かせる ▸ jump [scream ] with fright 恐怖で飛び上がる [叫ぶ ]▸ cry out in fright ぎょっとして叫ぶ ▸ get [have ] stage fright 舞台負けする ; 舞台であがる ▸ take fright at A ｟書｠Aにおびえる 2 C ｟くだけてやや古｠醜い [おかしな, 異常な ]人 [物 ]▸ look a fright みすぼらしい, 醜悪だ動詞他動詞｟文｠＝frighten .

frighten

fright en /fráɪt (ə )n /→fright (形 )frightened 動詞～s /-z /; ～ed /-d /; ～ing 他動詞 1 〈人物事が〉〈人動物〉を怖がらせる, おびえさせる , ぎょっと [はっと ]させる, 驚かせる, たまげさせる (｟ややくだけて｠scare ) (!be ～edなど分詞形容詞用法については →frightened ) ▸ frighten A to death [the life out of A ]A 〈人〉を死ぬほど怖がらせる [ふるえあがらせる ]2 〖～ A into [out of ] (doing ) …〗A 〈人〉をおどして … させる […を失わせる ]▸ frighten A into confessing A 〈人〉をおどして告白 [白状 ]させる fr ì ghten A aw á y [aw á y A ]脅してAを追い払う .fr ì ghten A ó ff [ó ff A ]1 ＝frighten A away .2 脅してA 〈計画など〉をやめさせる .

frightened

fright ened /fráɪt (ə )nd /→fright (動 )frighten 形容詞 more ～; most ～1 〈人動物が〉 «…に /…ではないかと » おびえた , ぞっとした (｟ややくだけて｠scared ) «by, at, about /that 節 » ▸ Kate was frightened by a nightmare .ケイトは悪夢におびえていた ▸ They were frightened that a terrorist attack was expected .彼らはテロリストの襲撃の可能性におびえていた 2 〖be ～ of (doing ) …〗… (すること )が (常に )怖いと思う ▸ She was frightened of death .彼女はいつも死におびえていた .3 〖be ～ to do 〗…するのが怖い ; …してぞっとする ▸ I was frightened to go out .私は外に出るのが怖かった

frightening

fright en ing /fráɪt (ə )nɪŋ /形容詞〈出来事などが〉恐ろしい, ぞっとさせる .～ly 副詞怖いくらい, 恐ろしいほど .

frightful

fright ful /fráɪtf (ə )l /形容詞 1 ｟やや古くだけて｠不愉快な, 嫌な, わずらわしい ; ひどい ; 非常な ▸ have a frightful time つまらない時を過ごす, 不愉快な [ひどい ]目に遭う 2 恐ろしい, ぞっと [ぎょっと ]させる ; とても醜い ▸ a frightful accident 恐ろしい事故～ness 名詞

frightfully

fr í ght ful ly 副詞 1 ｟主に英やや古｠ひどく, まったくもって (very ).2 恐ろしく, ぞっとするほど .