as in afraid
filled with fear or dread
I am frightened of the dark
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in scared
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
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of frightened
Literary Hub, 1 May 2026
How Animal Lovers Can Help For readers who have ever bottle-fed a baby animal, comforted a frightened pet or simply paused to watch a deer step out of the woods at dusk, Forest’s story is a familiar kind of heartbreak — and a familiar kind of hope.
—Hanna Wickes, Charlotte Observer, 28 Apr. 2026
Hannah Kirby, jsonline.com, 29 Mar. 2026
Facing cameras and a swath of media in her tiny hometown, Long Rife was not frightened by the prospect of moving cross-country.
—Joseph Dycus, Mercury News, 28 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for frightened
Adjective
Those children hadn’t seemed frightened to me, not visibly anyway.
—Literary Hub, 1 May 2026
How Animal Lovers Can Help For readers who have ever bottle-fed a baby animal, comforted a frightened pet or simply paused to watch a deer step out of the woods at dusk, Forest’s story is a familiar kind of heartbreak — and a familiar kind of hope.
—Hanna Wickes, Charlotte Observer, 28 Apr. 2026
Verb
Chesney had escaped from an outside enclosure on March 25, after being frightened by some unknown barking dogs.
—Hannah Kirby, jsonline.com, 29 Mar. 2026
Facing cameras and a swath of media in her tiny hometown, Long Rife was not frightened by the prospect of moving cross-country.
—Joseph Dycus, Mercury News, 28 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for frightened
Recent Examples of Synonyms for frightened
Adjective
-
Unlike the coolly impassive Pop artists, the Who weren’t afraid to get personal, or to let their art echo the anxious, kinky, maladjusted yammering in their own heads.—
Jeremy Lybarger,
Artforum,
2 June 2026
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Meanwhile, aggressive immigration enforcement has made some people afraid to seek care at all, worsening public health outcomes.—
Daniela Flores,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
2 June 2026
Verb
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But the apparent side effects scared him off.—
T.M. Brown,
CNN Money,
28 May 2026
-
That same year, Wait Until Dark scared me to death when bad guys terrorized a blind Audrey Hepburn.—
Pete Hammond,
Deadline,
22 May 2026
Adjective
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In the mid-2000s, people across America watched a man in a trench coat hand a chat-log transcript to a terrified suspect holding a six-pack of Mike’s Hard Lemonade.—
Toni Fitzgerald,
Forbes.com,
28 May 2026
-
Three men in Hawaii were killed within 48 hours, leaving devastated families in mourning and a terrified community on edge as police hunt for the suspect.—
Amanda Musa,
CNN Money,
28 May 2026
Verb
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The blast in Indonesia's restive eastern Papua region startled locals with a thunderous boom on Sunday afternoon, emitting a ball of flames followed by a thick smoke column, according to footage broadcast on Kompas TV.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
1 June 2026
-
The scale of what is emerging in China’s northwestern desert has left even seasoned analysts startled.—
Reuters,
NBC news,
29 May 2026
Adjective
-
As a horrified Sam inadvertently observes, a creature has been sating itself on his buddy’s brain.—
Graham Hillard,
The Washington Examiner,
31 May 2026
-
As his tricks progressed, the Young Man felt horrified and confused at the same time.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
20 May 2026
Verb
-
Still, Sinner’s Wimbledon coup spooked Grand Slam organizers into amending their rulebook.—
Sara Germano,
Sportico.com,
24 May 2026
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Trump has taken a hands-off approach to regulating AI since retaking office, but members of his administration got spooked and began recommending safety testing after Anthropic flagged cybersecurity risks with its latest model, Mythos.—
Ashley Belanger,
ArsTechnica,
22 May 2026
Adjective
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As part of that crackdown, the FBI in January seized the electronic devices of a Washington Post reporter, a move that alarmed media organizations and advocates of press freedom.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
26 May 2026
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Maritime users were particularly alarmed because the location data feature could counter GPS spoofing and jamming that have been occurring in waters in the Middle East, allowing boats to safely navigate despite electronic signal interference.—
Michael Kan,
PC Magazine,
26 May 2026
Verb
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That shocked George, who the next year approved Parliament’s acts designed to rein in Massachusetts’ ability to govern itself.—
Laurie Kellman,
Los Angeles Times,
3 June 2026
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That shocked George, who the next year approved Parliament's acts designed to rein in Massachusetts' ability to govern itself.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
3 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Frightened.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/frightened. Accessed 6 Jun. 2026.
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