Frighten definition

frītn
frightened frightens
Frequency:
To become suddenly afraid.
verb
11
1
To force (away, out, or off) or bring (into a specified condition) by making afraid.

To frighten someone into confessing.

verb
4
1
To become afraid.

Told ghost stories to campers who frightened easily.

verb
3
0
The definition of frighten is to cause fear or to make someone afraid or anxious.

When you tell a child a very scary ghost story, this is an example of a situation where you frighten the child.

verb
1
0
To cause to feel fright; make suddenly afraid; scare; terrify.
verb
0
0
Advertisement
To disturb with fear; to throw into a state of alarm or fright; to affright; to terrify.
verb
0
0
To fill with fear; alarm.
verb
0
1
To drive or force by arousing fear.

The suspect was frightened into confessing.

verb
0
1

Frighten Sentence Examples

  • Maybe a little noise would frighten the animal away.

  • That's a thing to frighten me with!

  • For a moment she lay still, afraid any movement would frighten him away like a wild cat in the daylight.

  • Some cuckoos are singular for their habit of using the nests of smaller birds to lay their eggs in, so that the young may be reared by foster-parents; and it has been suggested that the object of the likeness exhibited to the hawk is to enable the cock cuckoo either to frighten the small birds away from their nests or to lure them in pursuit of him, while the hen bird quietly and without molestation disposes of her egg.

  • But how he did frighten me...

More sentences

Related articles

Also Mentioned In

Words near frighten in the Dictionary