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frighten
[ frahyt-n ]
verb (used with object)
- to make afraid or fearful; throw into a fright; terrify; scare.
Synonyms: intimidate, dismay, startle, shock
- to drive (usually followed by away, off, etc.) by scaring:
to frighten away pigeons from the roof.
verb (used without object)
- to become frightened:
a timid child who frightens easily.
frighten
/ ˈfraɪtən /
verb
- to cause fear in; terrify; scare
- to drive or force to go (away, off, out, in, etc) by making afraid
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Derived Forms
- ˈfrighteningly, adverb
- ˈfrightening, adjective
- ˈfrightened, adjective
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Other Words From
- frighten·a·ble adjective
- frighten·er noun
- frighten·ing·ly adverb
- non·frighten·ing adjective
- non·frighten·ing·ly adverb
- over·frighten verb
- un·frighten·ing adjective
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Idioms and Phrases
see scare out of one's wits .Discover More
Synonym Study
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Example Sentences
Perhaps made doubly frightening because not only does the old man frighten Garfield and Odie, but he steals their candy as well.
Indeed, his inept attempts to frighten off Stewie only make the situation worse.
Big scary Transformer-like robots with heads ablaze that frighten the kids back across the treacherous desert?
Their goal is to frighten women who have objected to forced hijab.
This happens to be the perfect course of action, better to frighten you with the hellish episode of slavery.
They foreclose without mercy, but that does not frighten their old patrons, who have the perennial optimism of the country.
They did at first endeavour with their weapons to frighten us, who, lying ashore, deterred them from one of their fishing-places.
His hand was not in; I had nothing to frighten him with, which we always must have in the beginning, or we labour in vain.
But instead of driving home their attack they thought to frighten them by a mere cannonade.
Should Gorton turn up he is just the one to frighten a defenceless woman, and purchase his own silence.
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Related Words
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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