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
Eagle uses bullying and tricks to frighten the other birds and take what belongs to them, leading to serious consequences.
—
Eric E. Harrison, Arkansas Online, 3 June 2026
However, Erickson had already awoken and confronted him with the gun to try to frighten him.
—Caroline Blair, PEOPLE, 1 June 2026
But the future Hall of Famer is coming off ACL surgery, might lack mobility, and has a receiving corps that frightens nobody.
—Troy Renck, Denver Post, 15 May 2026
This war has been a disaster for them, frightening away foreign investors, tourists and talent and burdening them with a future of huge new defense bills to deter Iran after the United States is gone.
—Thomas L. Friedman, Mercury News, 15 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for frighten
Eric E. Harrison, Arkansas Online, 3 June 2026
However, Erickson had already awoken and confronted him with the gun to try to frighten him.
—Caroline Blair, PEOPLE, 1 June 2026
But the future Hall of Famer is coming off ACL surgery, might lack mobility, and has a receiving corps that frightens nobody.
—Troy Renck, Denver Post, 15 May 2026
This war has been a disaster for them, frightening away foreign investors, tourists and talent and burdening them with a future of huge new defense bills to deter Iran after the United States is gone.
—Thomas L. Friedman, Mercury News, 15 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for frighten
Recent Examples of Synonyms for frighten
Verb
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Late one night, with the neighbors’ dogs loose once again, Courtney Guarnieri fired shots into the darkness to scare them away.—
Thomas Lake,
AJC.com,
12 June 2026
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The scientists only got a passing glimpse of the goblin shark before the lights and loud noise from the ROV's motor scared it away, Auscavitch told ABC News.—
Julia Jacobo,
ABC News,
12 June 2026
Verb
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The comedian was terrified after being fired from NewsRadio.—
Derek Lawrence,
Entertainment Weekly,
8 June 2026
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And there are a lot of things to be very rightly and understandably terrified of right now, and uncertainty about what's to come.—
Nathan Diller,
USA Today,
7 June 2026
Verb
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The combination of flashing light and movement startles them.—
Brandee Gruener,
Southern Living,
11 June 2026
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Her voice startled me, both rough and smooth—like a bottle of whiskey set in front of a princess.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
9 June 2026
Verb
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An early, nonpublic version of Mythos spooked policymakers and corporate executives in April for its ability to find more than 10,000 severe bugs and vulnerabilities in important software systems.—
Jared Perlo,
NBC news,
11 June 2026
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The whipping and snapping of a windsock may also spook them.—
Brandee Gruener,
Southern Living,
11 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Frighten.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/frighten. Accessed 15 Jun. 2026.
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