as in terrifying
causing fear
a truly frightening movie
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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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Examples of frightening in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Shania Russell, EW.com, 25 Sep. 2024
That's what's kind of frightening about the concussion thing.
—Anna Lazarus Caplan, Peoplemag, 24 Sep. 2024
In late July, his 3-year-old son, Max, was temporarily paralyzed by a frightening case of Guillain-Barré syndrome, forcing Freeman to step away from the team for eight games.
—Jack Harris, Los Angeles Times, 28 Sep. 2024
All of the frightening moments have to come from a very real place, and have to come from people's relationships with the characters.
—Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 27 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for frightening 
Adjective
The comedian, who is married to Motley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee, shared a video of the frightening encounter to Instagram on Tuesday, showing off her bold response to a coyote snatching the couple’s dachshund out of their backyard in the San Fernando Valley.
—Shania Russell, EW.com, 25 Sep. 2024
That's what's kind of frightening about the concussion thing.
—Anna Lazarus Caplan, Peoplemag, 24 Sep. 2024
In late July, his 3-year-old son, Max, was temporarily paralyzed by a frightening case of Guillain-Barré syndrome, forcing Freeman to step away from the team for eight games.
—Jack Harris, Los Angeles Times, 28 Sep. 2024
All of the frightening moments have to come from a very real place, and have to come from people's relationships with the characters.
—Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 27 Sep. 2024
See all Example Sentences for frightening
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'frightening.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Thesaurus Entries Near frightening
Cite this Entry
“Frightening.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/frightening. Accessed 24 Oct. 2024.
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