as in frightened
too overcome with panic to think or act normally
The panic-stricken horses crashed through the door of the burning barn.
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Recent Examples of panic-stricken
For the first time in his life, the great shark couldn’t swim freely and, panic-stricken, bolted clear of his world and there was only emptiness, and his tail and pectoral fins were helpless in the void.
—
Pat Smith, Outdoor Life, 24 July 2025
That afternoon, another detainee called her with a message that left her panic-stricken: Her son, 25-year-old Yoiker David Sequera, had been taken away to a notorious offshore prison.
—Lauren Villagran, USA TODAY, 13 Feb. 2025
These are not the first crew members to be panic-stricken by a stray rat today.
—Dalton Ross, EW.com, 12 May 2023
Pat Smith, Outdoor Life, 24 July 2025
That afternoon, another detainee called her with a message that left her panic-stricken: Her son, 25-year-old Yoiker David Sequera, had been taken away to a notorious offshore prison.
—Lauren Villagran, USA TODAY, 13 Feb. 2025
These are not the first crew members to be panic-stricken by a stray rat today.
—Dalton Ross, EW.com, 12 May 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for panic-stricken
Adjective
-
After the arrests, children in her van became frightened and initially refused to get out.—
Racquel Bazos,
Baltimore Sun,
11 June 2026
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Flavia Pupo, a manager at a hotel in Pinar del Río, told AP that the shaking rattled the building and frightened people in the area.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
8 June 2026
Adjective
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That combination of a panicked young voice and an older parent who loves them is the most reliably devastating pairing a scammer can manufacture.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
9 June 2026
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The visual contrast between Patricia’s panicked, mad dashing and the Boogeyman’s extreeeemely slow pace is consistently hilarious.—
Jen Chaney,
Vulture,
3 June 2026
Adjective
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An Orange County man downed 2 quarts of Jack Daniel’s before firing a gun multiple times inside his Laguna Niguel home, forcing terrified relatives to flee.—
Seamus Bozeman
Follow,
Los Angeles Times,
9 June 2026
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Social media video showed dozens of terrified elementary schoolchildren crouching down outdoors as the ground beneath them swayed violently in the province of Davao Occidental.—
Kathleen Magramo,
CNN Money,
8 June 2026
Adjective
-
Is this person happy, sad, scared?—
Jim Hemphill,
IndieWire,
8 June 2026
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The clinic struggled to keep staff during the epidemic and the nurse was too scared to run it by herself, Dunn said.—
Imani Cruzen,
Twin Cities,
7 June 2026
Adjective
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In the mid-2010s, when every other norm of civility was beginning to fall apart, Jeopardy strategy became a panicky knife fight for the Doubles, the most powerful clues on the board.—
Drew Goins,
The Atlantic,
19 May 2026
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The redemption requests at Blue Owl included some large institutions and wasn’t just limited to panicky retail investors, this person said.—
Liz Hoffman,
semafor.com,
2 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Panic-stricken.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/panic-stricken. Accessed 15 Jun. 2026.
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