fright ‧ ened S3 /ˈfraɪtnd/ BrE AmE adjective
[ Word Family: adjective : ↑ frightened , ↑ frightening , ↑ frightful ; noun : ↑ fright , ↑ frighteners ; adverb : ↑ frighteningly , ↑ frightfully ; verb : ↑ frighten ]
feeling afraid SYN scared :
Don’t be frightened. We’re not going to hurt you.
frightened of
I was frightened of being left by myself in the house.
Her father had an awful temper and she was always frightened of him.
frightened to do something
The boy was frightened to speak.
frightened that
She’s frightened that her ex-husband will find her.
To tell the truth, I was frightened to death (=very frightened) .
a frightened horse
► Do not confuse frightened, which describes a feeling, and frightening, which describes something that makes you feel frightened : a frightened child | a frightening experience
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THESAURUS
▪ frightened feeling worried because you might get hurt or because something bad might happen:
I was too frightened to say anything.
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Many animals are frightened of fireworks.
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Frightened residents called the police as the gang started throwing bricks.
▪ scared [not before noun] especially spoken frightened. Scared is less formal than frightened and is the usual word to use in everyday English:
I’m scared of dogs.
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Old people are too scared to go out of their homes.
▪ afraid [not before noun] frightened. Afraid sounds more formal than frightened or scared :
Children are often afraid of the dark.
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I was afraid that I might say the wrong thing.
▪ alarmed frightened and worried that something bad might happen:
She was alarmed at the thought of performing in front of an audience.
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Alarmed passengers spotted fuel leaking from the plane.
▪ fearful formal frightened that something bad might happen:
They are fearful of another terrorist attack.
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He was fearful that he might make another mistake.
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a fearful panic
■ very frightened
▪ terrified very frightened:
He looked terrified as the plane took off.
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James was absolutely terrified of losing his only child.
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He dragged the terrified woman into his car.
▪ petrified very frightened – used especially when you are so frightened that you cannot think or move:
She’s absolutely petrified of spiders.
▪ scared stiff/scared to death informal very frightened:
I had to make a speech, and I was scared stiff.
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She was scared to death of her father.
▪ in terror written if you do something in terror, you do it because you are very frightened:
People fled in terror as the building went up in flames.