frighten away
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Verb (transitive):
- To cause someone or something to flee, leave, or be deterred by inducing fear or alarm. It means to scare off.
Usage
- The verb "frighten away" is used to describe the action of making a person, animal, or even an abstract concept like an idea or opportunity go away because of fear. It is a separable phrasal verb (e.g., "frighten someone away").
- It often implies that the fear causes the target to retreat or abandon its position or intention.
Examples
- Verb:
- The loud noise will frighten away the birds. (The noise will cause the birds to fly away because they are scared.)
- High prices are frightening away potential customers. (High prices are deterring potential customers, making them not want to buy.)
- She didn't want her stern expression to frighten away the new interns. (She didn't want her serious look to scare the new interns into avoiding her.)
Advanced Usage
- "to be frightened away": The passive form, indicating the subject is the one caused to leave by fear.
- The investors were frightened away by the market's instability.
- The object (the thing being scared off) can be placed between "frighten" and "away" or after the entire phrase.
- The guard dog frightened the intruder away. (Correct)
- The guard dog frightened away the intruder. (Also correct)
Variants and Related Words
- Frighten off: A synonym with identical meaning and usage (to scare off).
- They used lights to frighten off the foxes.
- Scare away: A more informal synonym.
- Don't scare away the wildlife.
Synonyms
- Deter: To discourage or prevent from acting through fear or doubt.
- Scare off: To cause to flee or be discouraged by fear.
- Drive away: To force to leave.
Related Phrasal Verbs
- Frighten into: To use fear to make someone do something.
- He was frightened into confessing.
- Frighten out of: To use fear to make someone stop doing something.
- The accident frightened him out of riding motorcycles.
Related Idioms
- To scare the daylights out of someone: To frighten someone very much (an intense version of frightening someone away).
- That horror movie scared the daylights out of me.
Verb
- cause to lose courage
- dashed by the refusal