To intimidate; to daunt the spirits or courage of. Found primarily in the passive voice.
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Synonym Study
Terrorize
implies deliberate intention to terrify by threat or intimidation the gangsters terrorized the city
To
terrify
is to cause to feel an overwhelming, often paralyzing fear terrified at the thought of war
Alarm
suggests a sudden fear or apprehension at the realization of an approaching danger alarmed by his warning
Scare
, often equivalent to
frighten
, often implies a fear that causes one to flee or to stop doing something I scared him from the room
Frighten
is the broadest of these terms and implies, usually, a sudden, temporary feeling of fear frightened by a mouse but sometimes, a state of continued dread she's frightened when she's alone
Find another word for frighten. In this page you can discover 110 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for frighten, like: shock, affright, appall, discomfort, put in fear, unnerve, terrify, horrify, awe, perturb and disquiet.
Maybe a little noise would frighten the animal away.
That's a thing to frighten me with!
For a moment she lay still, afraid any movement would frighten him away like a wild cat in the daylight.
Some cuckoos are singular for their habit of using the nests of smaller birds to lay their eggs in, so that the young may be reared by foster-parents; and it has been suggested that the object of the likeness exhibited to the hawk is to enable the cock cuckoo either to frighten the small birds away from their nests or to lure them in pursuit of him, while the hen bird quietly and without molestation disposes of her egg.