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
Why was Caesar Augustus frightened of Ovid?
—
Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, FOXNews.com, 31 Jan. 2026
Clumsiness notwithstanding, bringing a criminal case against a journalist who was reporting on a protest is an authoritarian tactic—a means of frightening the press away from uncovering the truth.
—Quinta Jurecic, The Atlantic, 30 Jan. 2026
Her hysteria frightens me and demands to be taken care of.
—Stephanie Sengwe, PEOPLE, 28 Jan. 2026
Mariana, for example, wrote about children being frightened by school shootings.
—Kayla Huynh, jsonline.com, 16 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for frighten
Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, FOXNews.com, 31 Jan. 2026
Clumsiness notwithstanding, bringing a criminal case against a journalist who was reporting on a protest is an authoritarian tactic—a means of frightening the press away from uncovering the truth.
—Quinta Jurecic, The Atlantic, 30 Jan. 2026
Her hysteria frightens me and demands to be taken care of.
—Stephanie Sengwe, PEOPLE, 28 Jan. 2026
Mariana, for example, wrote about children being frightened by school shootings.
—Kayla Huynh, jsonline.com, 16 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for frighten
Recent Examples of Synonyms for frighten
Verb
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Why this message is designed to scare This scam relies on presentation, not accuracy.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
13 Feb. 2026
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That kind of stuff is fun, [and] doesn’t scare me too much.—
Jill Goldsmith,
Deadline,
13 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Quote of the week Labour seem to be mystified and terrified of the bond market in equal proportions.—
Ian King,
CNBC,
11 Feb. 2026
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Pearl asks Sam the changeling son, appropriately terrified by the terms of such salvation.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
10 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Twyla Tharp’s ballet Push Comes to Shove, which premiered in 1976, startled and delighted audiences with its coy, self-referential humor, and its flirtation with popular dance styles such as jazz and tango.—
Sara Krolewski,
The Atlantic,
5 Feb. 2026
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After several chest compressions, Briana startled awake and cried.—
Jayme Fraser,
USA Today,
4 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Higher tariffs have driven up the prices of construction materials and equipment, while the crackdown on undocumented workers has thinned and spooked much of the international workforce on which the housing industry depends.—
Roger Vincent,
Los Angeles Times,
11 Feb. 2026
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Big Tech's spending plans are spooking investors as of late, but these plans could also signal a buying opportunity, according to Canaccord Genuity.—
Sarah Min,
CNBC,
9 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Frighten.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/frighten. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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