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- Dictionaryfright·en/ˈfrītn/
verb
- 1. make (someone) afraid or anxious: "the savagery of his thoughts frightened him"
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to make someone feel fear: He frightens me when he drives so fast. You'll frighten the baby wearing that mask. frighten someone to death The noise frightened me to death (= gave me a severe fright). frighten someone out of someone’s wits He sneaked into my room in the night and frightened me out of my wits.
The meaning of FRIGHTEN is to make afraid : terrify. How to use frighten in a sentence.
To frighten is to make someone feel afraid. Your new look — pink hair, tattoos, and piercings — will probably frighten your grandparents.
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.
1. To fill with fear; alarm. 2. To drive or force by arousing fear: The suspect was frightened into confessing. v.intr. To become afraid: told ghost stories to campers who frightened easily. fright′en·er n. fright′en·ing·ly adv. Synonyms: frighten, scare, alarm, terrify, terrorize, startle, panic.
To frighten is to shock with sudden, startling, but usually short-lived fear, esp. 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.
Definition of frighten verb in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.
to make someone feel fear: He frightens me when he drives so fast. You'll frighten the baby wearing that mask. frighten someone to death The noise frightened me to death (= gave me a severe fright). frighten someone out of someone’s wits He sneaked into my room in the night and frightened me out of my wits. Fewer examples.
To fill with fear; alarm. To cause to feel fright; make suddenly afraid; scare; terrify. To become suddenly afraid. To force ( away, out, or off) or bring ( into a specified condition) by making afraid. To frighten someone into confessing. To drive or force by arousing fear. The suspect was frightened into confessing.
frighten to make someone feel afraid, often suddenly: She brought out a gun and frightened them off. scare or frighten? Frighten is slightly more formal than scare .
