as in to scare
to strike with fear
around the campfire the campers tried to frighten one another with ghostly legends and grisly tales
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Recent Examples of frighten
If it’s built on perennials, the temporary cold should not frighten you.
—
Steve Booren, Denver Post, 21 Dec. 2025
When strapped to social media algorithms, this fake content can help recruit new believers, confuse or frighten enemies and spread propaganda at a scale unimaginable just a few years ago.
—David Klepper, Fortune, 15 Dec. 2025
And my father—lovable but imposing, a strapping six feet three inches tall with a thick, bristly mustache and a rumbling Sergeant Schultz accent that frightened my friends half to death—loved to tell stories.
—CBS News, 5 Dec. 2025
The verb deter was coined in the English language in the 16th century from the Latin deterreo (to frighten) and first applied systematically in 18th- and 19th-century criminological texts.
—Big Think, 27 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for frighten
Recent Examples of Synonyms for frighten
Verb
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After scaring off the animal, one of the hikers, a physician, attempted to revive Kovatch, but did not find a pulse.—
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Don’t let the tackiness of this primer scare you.—
Verb
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Hodges managed to hang on to his baton but then found himself on all fours, surrounded by the mob, terrified that he would soon be torn apart.—
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At another level, there does seem to be something absurd and even terrifying about the idea that someone who is not elected can become the leader of a country and then will be recognized as the leader of that country and receive the immunities afforded to heads of state.—
Verb
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Jamie, the dog-sitter, is startled that Pam is back so soon.—
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Hauge called that startling, given that court filing fees alone cost just as much.—
Verb
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Penn’s presence became a form of soft validation for a project that was already spooking investors, undermining private industry through expropriations, and hollowing out checks and balances.—
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However, the crypto market struggled at the end of the year as recent sell-offs spooked some investors.—
Cite this Entry
“Frighten.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/frighten. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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