frighten
Syllables: frigh·ten/ˈfɹaɪ.tən/
frighten verb: to cause to feel fear; to scare; to cause to feel alarm or fright.
Verb
frighten (third-person singular simple present frightens, present participle frightening, simple past and past participle frightened)
- To cause to feel fear; to scare; to cause to feel alarm or fright.
- Avery puts a sheet over her head, pretending to be a ghost to frighten Emily.
- His Deſign was only to frighten France, and get more Money.1746, Isaac Kimber, “Henry VII”, in The History of England, from the Earliest Accounts to the Accession of His Present Majesty King George II. […] , page 217
- To become scared or alarmed.
- In fitting the White Leghorns for exhibition, it must be remembered that they are of nervous disposition and frighten easily.1898, Franklane L. Sewell, Ida E. Tilson, “White Leghorns”, in The Poultry Herald Manual[:] A Guide to Successful Poultry Keeping, St. Paul, Minnesota: Webb Publishing Company, page 41
- Those male moose at the southeast arm didn't frighten very much when we docked to fly-fish one day. One was so scared of us he just walked toward us and snorted.1959, Harold G. (Hack) Miller, “Rod and gun”, in Hearings […] , Washington: United States Government Printing Office, page 101
frighten meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
frighten in Hindi
- to frighten
- डराना ḍarānā, सहमाना sahmānā
frighten in Tamil
- அச்சுறுத்து
frighten in Urdu
- to frighten
- سہمانا sahmānā
frighten in Bengali
- ভয় দেখানো, আতঙ্কিত করা
More languagesFewer languages
- frighten in Telugu
- భయపడు bhayapaḍu
- frighten in Malayalam
- വിരട്ടുക viraṭṭuka
- frighten in Kannada
- ಹೆದರಿಸು, ಭಯಪಡಿಸು, ಅಗುರ್ವಿಸು, ದಿಗಿಲುಗೊಳಿಸು
- frighten in Pashto
- وېرول werawël
- frighten in Arabic
- خَشَّى ḵaššā, أَفْزَعَ ʔafzaʕa
- frighten in Malay
- menakutkan
- frighten in Persian
- ترساندن tarsândan
- frighten in Vietnamese
- làm hoảng sợ
- frighten in Myanmar
- ခြောက် hkrauk
Examples of frighten in a sentence
- You may frighten a pig, a goose, a frog, and even a fly, but you cannot frighten or surprise a sloth.1883, Felix Leopold Oswald, “A Step-child of Nature”, in Zoological Sketches[:] A Contribution to the Out-door Study of Natural History...
- And he commanded his soldiers […] to frighten them with fierce swords, but the hearts of the holy men did not quail, and they were unable to alter their words.1928, E. A. Wallis Budge, transl., The Book of the Saints of the Ethiopian Church[:] A translation of the Ethiopic Synaxarium […] , volume...
Synonyms of frighten
- alarm
- affright
- appall
- dismay
- give someone the shits
- harrow
- horrify
- make someone's blood run cold
- mortify
- petrify
11 more synonymsFewer synonyms
- scare
- scare straight
- scare the bejeebers out of
- scare the hell out of
- scare the pants off of
- scare the shit out of
- terrorize
- terrify
- spook
- fray
- grill
Forms of frighten
| third-person singular present | frightens |
|---|---|
| present participle | frightening |
| past participle | frightened |
| past | frightened |
| alternative form (obsolete) | freighten |
Origin of frighten
From Middle English *frightenen, equivalent to fright + -en.
Words formed from frighten
Phrases with frighten
Words that rhyme with frighten
Questions about frighten
- What does frighten mean?
- Frighten means to cause to feel fear; to scare; to cause to feel alarm or fright.
- What is frighten in Hindi?
- Frighten in Hindi is डराना (ḍarānā), सहमाना (sahmānā). See Frighten meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use frighten in a sentence?
- You may frighten a pig, a goose, a frog, and even a fly, but you cannot frighten or surprise a sloth.
- What part of speech is frighten?
- Frighten is a verb.
- How do you pronounce frighten?
- Frighten is pronounced /ˈfɹaɪ.tən/.
- What is the past tense of frighten?
- The past tense of frighten is frightened.
Words near frighten in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: frighten (page history and authors); डराना (Hindi) (page history and authors); frighten (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); سہمانا (Urdu) (page history and authors); frighten (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); വിരട്ടുക (Malayalam) (page history and authors); frighten (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-frighten.ogg.
Cite this entry: “frighten.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/frighten. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.