Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Feeling fear or anxiety; scared: The state of being afraid or alarmed, often suddenly, due to perceived danger, pain, or threat.
   • Made to feel afraid: Caused to experience fear, typically by an external event or situation.

Usage and Examples

• As an adjective describing a person or animal:
  • The frightened child hid behind the sofa during the thunderstorm.
  • She was too frightened to go into the dark room alone.
• As an adjective following a linking verb (e.g., be, feel, look, seem):
  • The horse looked frightened by the loud noise.
  • They felt frightened but tried to remain calm.

Advanced Usage and Grammatical Notes

• Comparative and Superlative Forms: "more frightened", "most frightened". The form "frightener" is not standard for comparison.
  • After the story, the younger children were more frightened than the older ones.
• Common Collocations:
  • Frightened of: Used to specify the object of fear.

    • He's always been frightened of spiders.
  • Frightened by: Used to indicate the cause or agent of the fear.

    • The tourists were frightened by the sudden earthquake.
  • Frightened that: Introduces a clause describing the feared situation.

    • I was frightened that I would fail the important exam.

Variants and Related Words

• Frighten (verb): To make someone afraid.
  • The loud bang frightened the birds.
• Frightening (adjective): Causing fear or alarm.
  • We watched a frightening horror movie.
• Fright (noun): A sudden intense feeling of fear.
  • The loud crash gave me a terrible fright.

Synonyms

• Afraid: The most general synonym for feeling fear.
• Scared: Very similar in meaning, often used interchangeably.
• Terrified: Feeling extreme or overwhelming fear.
• Panicked: Feeling sudden, uncontrollable fear, often leading to irrational behavior.
• Alarmed: Suddenly frightened by a realization of danger.

Antonyms

• Brave: Ready to face danger or pain.
• Calm: Not showing or feeling nervousness, anger, or other strong emotions.
• Fearless: Lacking fear.
• Unafraid: Not afraid.

Idioms and Phrases

• Frightened to death or Scared to death: Extremely frightened.
  • I was frightened to death when I heard the noise in the middle of the night.
• Frighten the life out of someone: To scare someone very much.
  • That sudden scream frightened the life out of me.
• Frighten someone/something away/off: To cause someone or something to go away by making them afraid.
  • The guard dog frightened the intruders away.

Adjective

1. thrown into a state of intense fear or desperation
   • became panicky as the snow deepened
   • felt panicked before each exam
   • trying to keep back the panic-stricken crowd
   • the terrified horse bolted
2. made afraid
   • the frightened child cowered in the corner
   • too shocked and scared to move