Definition

1. Noun:

   • An emotion of sudden, intense fear: "Fright" refers to the feeling of being scared or alarmed, often caused by something unexpected or threatening. It is typically a strong, immediate reaction to perceived danger.
   • A state of alarm or terror: It can describe the condition of being frightened.

2. Verb (archaic/poetic):

   • To frighten; to scare: To cause someone to feel fear. This usage is now rare and mostly found in older literary works.

Usage Examples

• Noun:

  • The loud crash gave her a terrible fright. (The sudden noise caused her to feel intense fear.)
  • He turned pale with fright when he saw the shadow. (His face became pale due to fear.)

• Verb (archaic):

  • "Nothing can fright a true heart." (Nothing can scare a truly brave person.) - Example of poetic usage.

Advanced Usage

• "to take fright": to become suddenly frightened.

  • The horse took fright at the sound of thunder and bolted. (The horse became scared by the thunder and ran away suddenly.)

• Stage fright: Intense nervousness felt by a performer before or during a public appearance. (This is a common compound noun).

  • Even experienced actors sometimes suffer from stage fright.

Variants and Related Words

• Frighten (verb): The standard modern verb meaning to cause fear.
  • The horror movie frightened the children.
• Frightful (adjective):
  • Causing fright; terrifying.

    • A frightful scream echoed in the night.
  • (Informal) Extreme in degree; very bad.

    • We're in a frightful mess.
• Frightfully (adverb): (Informal, chiefly British) Extremely.
  • It was frightfully kind of you to help.

Synonyms

• Noun: Fear, terror, alarm, panic, dread, horror.
• Verb (archaic): Frighten, scare, terrify, alarm.

Related Phrasal Verbs/Phrases

• Frighten away/off: To cause someone or something to go away by making them afraid.
  • The guard dog frightened away the intruders.
• Frighten into: To scare someone so that they do something.
  • The threats frightened him into silence.

Related Idioms

• Look a fright: To look very untidy, messy, or ridiculous in appearance.
  • I woke up late and rushed out the door; I must have looked a fright.
• Shake with fright: To tremble visibly because of fear.
  • The child was shaking with fright during the storm.

Noun

1. an emotion experienced in anticipation of some specific pain or danger (usually accompanied by a desire to flee or fight)

Verb

1. cause fear in
   • The stranger who hangs around the building frightens me
   • Ghosts could never affright her