frighten

/ˈfraɪtn/

/ˈfraɪtɪn/

Other forms: frightened; frightening; frightens

To frighten is to make someone feel afraid. Your new look — pink hair, tattoos, and piercings — will probably frighten your grandparents.

If horror movies and haunted houses frighten you, they scare you, and all it might take to frighten your skittish cat is the sound of the vacuum cleaner or coffee grinder. Frighten is the verb form of the noun fright. although originally the verb was also fright. The Old English source is fyrhtu, "fear, dread, trembling, or horrible sight."

Definitions of frighten

1. verb

   cause fear in
   “The stranger who hangs around the building frightens me”

   synonyms: affright, fright, scare

   types:

   bluff

   frighten someone by pretending to be stronger than one really is

   awe

   inspire awe in

   terrify, terrorise, terrorize

   fill with terror; frighten greatly

   intimidate

   make timid or fearful

   alarm, appal, appall, dismay, horrify

   fill with apprehension or alarm; cause to be unpleasantly surprised

   consternate

   fill with anxiety, dread, dismay, or confusion

   spook

   frighten or scare, and often provoke into a violent action

   cow, overawe

   subdue, restrain, or overcome by affecting with a feeling of awe; frighten (as with threats)

   hold over

   intimidate somebody (with a threat)

   ballyrag, boss around, browbeat, bully, bullyrag, hector, push around, strong-arm

   be bossy towards

   panic

   cause sudden fear in or fill with sudden panic

   shock

   strike with horror or terror

   type of:

   excite, shake, shake up, stimulate, stir

   stir the feelings, emotions, or peace of
2. verb

   drive out by frightening
   type of:

   chase away, dispel, drive away, drive off, drive out, run off, turn back

   force to go away; used both with concrete and metaphoric meanings