frightenverb [ T ]
uk/ˈfraɪ.tən/us/ˈfraɪ.tən/B2 to make someone feel fear:
He frightens me when he drives so fast.
You'll frighten the baby wearing that mask.
The noise frightened me to death/out of my wits (= gave me a severe fright).
More examples
- They fired off several shots to frighten us.
- The fast-moving traffic frightened the horse.
- I was frightened by the anger in his voice.
- He frightens people by creeping up on them.
- Don't let her frighten you, her bark is worse than her bite.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Frightening and scaring
- chill
- chill sb to the bone/marrow idiom
- cow
- creep
- curdle
- daylight
- flesh
- frighten sb into sth
- overawe
- petrify
- put the fear of God into you idiom
- put/get the wind up sb idiom
- scare
- scare, frighten, etc. the (living) daylights out of sb idiom
- send chills down/up sb's spine idiom
- send shivers down/up sb's spine idiom
- send shudders/a shudder down your spine idiom
- shiver (up and) down your spine idiom
- shudder
- wit
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Phrasal verb(s)
frighten sb/sth away/off
frighten sb into sth