as in terrifying
causing fear
a truly frightening movie
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in scaring
to strike with fear
around the campfire the campers tried to frighten one another with ghostly legends and grisly tales
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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Recent Examples of frightening
Lovia Gyarkye, HollywoodReporter, 24 July 2025
Through it all, the Jurassic Park franchise continued to break new ground, surprising and captivating audiences with fresh, new and unexpected developments in each installment, made all the more vivid, realistic and frightening with the latest in CGI and believable acting.
—Jan Wagner, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 July 2025
Perhaps most frightening of all is the fact that, in rural areas, such calamity occurs before any official help can arrive.
—Jessica Pishko, New Yorker, 15 July 2025
The actor has quite the legacy of voice work, notably bringing to life the lovably frightening Sulley in Pixar’s Monsters Inc. franchise.
—Ryan Gajewski, HollywoodReporter, 11 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for frightening
Adjective
Despite the care with which DeMonaco and his collaborators build dread, The Home only partially delivers on its frightening promises.
—Lovia Gyarkye, HollywoodReporter, 24 July 2025
Through it all, the Jurassic Park franchise continued to break new ground, surprising and captivating audiences with fresh, new and unexpected developments in each installment, made all the more vivid, realistic and frightening with the latest in CGI and believable acting.
—Jan Wagner, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 July 2025
Perhaps most frightening of all is the fact that, in rural areas, such calamity occurs before any official help can arrive.
—Jessica Pishko, New Yorker, 15 July 2025
The actor has quite the legacy of voice work, notably bringing to life the lovably frightening Sulley in Pixar’s Monsters Inc. franchise.
—Ryan Gajewski, HollywoodReporter, 11 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for frightening
Recent Examples of Synonyms for frightening
Adjective
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In one of the film's most surprising sequences, his character golfs the best game of his life during a terrifying storm, misses a putt, curses God, and gets struck by lightning.—
Randall Colburn,
EW.com,
25 July 2025
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But a week later, what had been named the Dragon Bravo Fire hit a patch of fuel and took on a terrifying character in new gusts of wind, surrounding overwhelmed firefighters on a helipad and heading with unstoppable force to the south.—
Tom Zoellner,
AZCentral.com,
25 July 2025
Adjective
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The scary thing about Jefferson's injury is that he was also kept out of multiple games in 2023 due to a hamstring injury.—
James Brizuela,
MSNBC Newsweek,
25 July 2025
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Dad is the one who's going to pretend to be a predator stalking the child and pretending to be a big, scary monster.—
Hannah Nwoko,
Parents,
22 July 2025
Adjective
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The bullpen, led by closer Edwin Díaz, looks formidable.—
Will Sammon,
New York Times,
1 Aug. 2025
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Minnesota Twins – Faced with formidable financial worries, the former home of Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva, Rod Carew, and Jim Kaat spent the deadline dumping salaries.—
Dan Schlossberg,
Forbes.com,
1 Aug. 2025
Verb
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Jung-bae wound up in a room of three, with Player 001 and some rando — but Player 001 choked the stranger to death in time to reduce their head count, shocking Jung-bae more than a bit.—
Matt Webb Mitovich,
TVLine,
26 Dec. 2024
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Fox News Digital obtained shocking audio between Cyrus and his estranged wife where the country crooner is heard berating his Australian ex and using profane language.—
Ashley Hume,
Fox News,
26 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Because of Denise Gough's human frailty as a woman destroyed by her own ambition and Kyle Soller's cowardice in the face of a horrible truth.—
Maureen Lee Lenker,
EW.com,
23 July 2025
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Soak up the gall of losing, absorb the horrible information, feel it to the full, go there—and then rebound, with superb elasticity.—
James Parker,
The Atlantic,
22 July 2025
Adjective
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My heart goes out to all of the Jewish children, grandchildren and future great-grandchildren who must ultimately bear the brunt of the terrible additional worldwide antisemitism caused directly by the horrific actions of the Israeli government over the past two years.—
Sun Sentinel Editorial Board,
Sun Sentinel,
2 Aug. 2025
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Friday was particularly unsettling as terrible jobs data slammed the market and triggered President Donald Trump .—
Zev Fima,
CNBC,
2 Aug. 2025
Adjective
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Recently, Altra added low drop shoes to its offerings, which can be less intimidating that flat, zero-drop shoes for beginners.—
Lauren Wingenroth,
SELF,
25 July 2025
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The library’s glorious 1911 Beaux Arts building on Fifth Avenue, while free and open to the public, is physically intimidating—cold in its marble grandeur, confusing in its labyrinthine layout.—
Brian Schaefer
July 7,
Literary Hub,
7 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Frightening.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/frightening. Accessed 6 Aug. 2025.
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