/ ˈfraɪtn; NAmE / verb
to make sb suddenly feel afraid :
[ vn ]
Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you.
She's not easily frightened.
[ v ]
She doesn't frighten easily (= it is not easy to make her afraid) .
[also vn to inf ]
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IDIOMS
see daylights , death , life
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PHRASAL VERBS
- frighten sb/sth away / off | frighten sb/sth away from sth
- frighten sb into sth / into doing sth
••
SYNONYMS
frighten
scare ♦ alarm ♦ intimidate ♦ startle
All these words mean to make sb afraid.
frighten
to make sb feel afraid, often suddenly:
He brought out a gun and frightened them off.
scare
to make sb feel afraid:
They managed to scare the bears away.
frighten or scare?
Both are very common words, and are very similar, so you can use either one correctly. Scare is slightly more informal than frighten .
alarm
to make sb anxious or afraid:
It alarms me that nobody takes this problem seriously.
frighten or alarm?
The subject of alarm is usually a thing, an event or a situation rather than a person : You're alarming me. It is used to describe a feeling that sth unpleasant or dangerous is going to happen in the future, and the feeling is often more one of worry than actual fear.
intimidate
to frighten or threaten sb so that they feel nervous or so that they will do what you want:
They were accused of intimidating people into voting for them.
startle
to make sb feel suddenly frightened or surprised, usually because of sth sudden or unexpected:
A sudden noise startled her.
PATTERNS AND COLLOCATIONS :
Stop it! You're frightening / scaring me !
Oh sorry. I didn't mean to frighten / scare / startle you .
to frighten / scare sb/sth away / off
I was frightened / scared / alarmed / intimidated / startled by what he said.
He frightened / scared / intimidated me into telling him what happened.