frighten

A2 Topic:Emotions & Feelings

US /ˈfɹaɪ.tən/ See IPA manual

verb Freq #6923

Meanings

1

verb
To make someone feel afraid or scared.

The huge dog frightened the little boy.
2

verb
To make someone go away by scaring them.

The farmer used a scarecrow to frighten the birds away.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to make someone feel afraid... scare affright

More alarm appall dismay fray grill harrow horrify mortify petrify spook

Word family

Forms frightens

Derived forms frightenablefrightenerfrighteningfrightensomeoverfrightenunfrighten

Related forms afraidasustarcoward disheartening fear fright nervous

Etymology

From Middle English *frightenen, equivalent to fright + -en.

*frightenen Middle English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Emotions & Feelings

# frighten

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A2
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** ˈfɹaɪ.tən
**Frequency rank:** 6923

## Meanings
1. To make someone feel afraid or scared.
2. To make someone go away by scaring them.

## Examples
- The huge dog frightened the little boy.
- The farmer used a scarecrow to frighten the birds away.

## Synonyms
- affright
- alarm
- appall
- dismay
- fray
- grill
- harrow
- horrify
- mortify
- petrify
- scare
- spook

## Derived Forms
- frightenable
- frightener
- frightening
- frightensome
- overfrighten
- unfrighten

## Related Forms
- afraid
- asustar
- coward
- disheartening
- fear
- fright
- nervous

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *frightenen

## Etymology
From Middle English *frightenen, equivalent to fright + -en.

## AI Etymology
Frighten comes from Middle English *frightenen, equivalent to fright + -en. In current use, the main senses are “To make someone feel afraid or scared” and “To make someone go away by scaring them”.

## Topics
- Emotions & Feelings

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frighten

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