panic

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

n. terror, fright, fear, consternation; stampede. —v. alarm, frighten; stampede. See excitability, failure. Ant., calm.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

1. [Overpowering fright]

Syn. fear, dread, alarm, fright; see fear 1 .

2. [Mob action, impelled by panic, sense 1]

Syn. mob hysteria, group hysteria, frenzy, crush, rush, jam; see also confusion 2 .

3. [A wave of financial hysteria]

Syn. run on the bank, crash, economic decline; see depression 3 .

See Synonym Study at fear .

• push the panic button*,

Syn. panic, become afraid, dread; see fear 1 .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus)

I

n.

terror, fear, alarm, fright, hysteria, loss of composure, *shakes, frenzy, consternation, *cold sweat, *sweating bullets, *rush of adrenalin. see fear, fearful

II

v.

be overcome with fear, *break out in a cold sweat, become hysterical, become paralyzed with fear, freeze up, become unnerved, *sweat bullets, soil one's drawers, become adrenalized, lose control, *lose it, be filled with a sense of impending doom.

ANT.: relax, calm, breathe easy. see fear

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) I noun 1. Great agitation and anxiety caused by the expectation or the realization of danger: affright, alarm, apprehension, dread, fear, fear-fulness, fright, funk, horror, terror, trepidation. Slang: cold feet. Idiom: fear and trembling. See FEAR. 2. Slang. Something or someone uproariously funny or absurd: absurdity. Informal: hoot, joke, laugh, scream. Slang: gas, howl, riot. Idiom: a laugh a minute. See LAUGHTER. II verb To fill with fear: affright, alarm, frighten, 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.