frighten

frighten
I
(Roget's IV) v.
1. [To strike with fear]
Syn. scare, alarm, terrify, daunt, dismay, cow, terrorize, shock, startle, dishearten, abash, dispirit, throw into a fright, raise apprehension, intimidate, deter, threaten, prey on the mind, badger, petrify, panic, demoralize, give cause for alarm, put in fear, give one a fright, horrify, appall, awe, perturb, disturb, disquiet, faze, discomfort, unnerve, harrow, unman, confound with dread, strike terror into, affright, spook*, frighten out of one's wits*, take one's breath away*, chill to the bone*, make one's hair stand on end*, make one's blood run cold*, make one's flesh creep*, put one's heart in one's mouth*, give one a turn*, scare one stiff*, freeze the blood*, curdle the blood*, scare the daylights out of*.
Ant. encourage*, hearten, reassure.
2. [To drive off, because of alarm]
Syn. scare off, scare away, intimidate, discourage, repel, stave off, frighten away, stampede, put to flight, deter, browbeat, bulldoze*.
Ant. fascinate*, inveigle, entice.
Syn.- frighten is the broadest of these terms and implies, usually, a sudden, temporary feeling of fear [frightened by a mouse ] but sometimes, a state of continued dread [ she's frightened when she's alone ] ; scare , often equivalent to frighten , often implies a fear that causes one to flee or to stop doing something [ I scared him from the room ] ; alarm suggests a sudden fear or apprehension at the realization of an approaching danger [alarmed by his warning ] ; to terrify is to cause to feel an overwhelming, often paralyzing fear [terrified at the thought of war ] ; terrorize implies deliberate intention to terrify by threat or intimidation [ the gangsters terrorized the city ]
II
(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) v.
scare, terrify, panic, shock, fill with dread, petrify, awe, *adrenalize, horrify, unnerve, *send chills down spine, spook, alarm, startle, intimidate, *curdle one's blood, *paralyze.
ANT.: encourage, embolden, reassure
III
(Roget's Thesaurus II) verb To fill with fear: affright, alarm, panic, scare, scarify2, startle, terrify, terrorize. Archaic: fright. Idioms: make one's blood run cold, make one's hair stand on end, scare silly (or stiff), scare the daylights out of. See FEAR.

English dictionary for students. 2013.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • frighten — frighten, fright, scare, alarm, terrify, terrorize, startle, affray, affright mean to strike or to fill with fear or dread. Frighten is perhaps the most frequent in use; it is the most inclusive, for it may range in implicaton from a momentary… …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • frighten — [frīt′ n] vt. 1. to cause to feel fright; make suddenly afraid; scare; terrify 2. to force (away, out, or off) or bring ( into a specified condition) by making afraid [to frighten someone into confessing] vi. to become suddenly afraid… …   English World dictionary

  • frighten — 1660s, from FRIGHT (Cf. fright) + EN (Cf. en) (1). Related: Frightened; frightening. The earlier verb was simply fright (O.E. fyrhtan) to frighten …   Etymology dictionary

  • frighten — ► VERB 1) cause to be afraid. 2) (frighten off) drive away by fear. DERIVATIVES frightened adjective frightening adjective frighteningly adverb …   English terms dictionary

  • Frighten — Fright en, v. t. [imp. {Frightened}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Frightening}.] [See {Fright}, v. t.] To disturb with fear; to throw into a state of alarm or fright; to affright; to terrify. [1913 Webster] More frightened than hurt. Old Proverb. [1913… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • frighten — I verb affright, alarm, browbeat, bully, bullyrag, cow, daunt, deter, disquiet, exterrere, fright, give cause for alarm, horrify, intimidate, menace, panic, petrify, raise apprehension, scare, shock, shock with sudden fear, startle, strike with… …   Law dictionary

  • frighten — [v] shock, scare affright, agitate, alarm, appall, astound, awe, browbeat*, bulldoze*, chill, chill to the bone*, cow, curdle the blood*, daunt, demoralize, deter, disburb, discomfort, disconcert, discourage, dishearten, dismay, disquiet, faze,… …   New thesaurus

  • frighten — v. 1) (d; tr.) to frighten into (to frighten smb. into submission) 2) (d; tr.) to frighten out of (to frighten smb. out of doing smt.) 3) (misc.) to frighten smb. to death * * * (misc.) to frighten smb. to death (d; tr.) to frighten into (to… …   Combinatory dictionary

  • frighten — fright|en [ˈfraıtn] v [T] to make someone feel afraid = ↑scare ▪ Don t stand so near the edge! You re frightening me. ▪ She was frightened by the anger in his eyes. ▪ Computers used to frighten me, but not now. frighten sb to death/frighten the… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • frighten */*/ — UK [ˈfraɪt(ə)n] / US verb [transitive] Word forms frighten : present tense I/you/we/they frighten he/she/it frightens present participle frightening past tense frightened past participle frightened to make someone feel afraid, especially suddenly …   English dictionary

  • frighten — verb ADVERB ▪ really ▪ The prospect of war really frightens me. ▪ almost ▪ easily ▪ a man who doesn t frighten easily (= become frightened easily) …   Collocations dictionary

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