as in frightening
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Recent Examples of persecutory
For example, Americans living during World War II developed persecutory delusions involving Germans, while those living during the Cold War focused on communists.
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Alaina Vandervoort Burns, The Conversation, 17 Dec. 2025
Alaina Vandervoort Burns, The Conversation, 17 Dec. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for persecutory
Adjective
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Late on against Newcastle, Rutter beat two players on the left with a frightening burst of pace and set up Minteh, only for the 21-year-old to blast over an empty net.—
Anantaajith Raghuraman,
New York Times,
4 May 2026
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Dash camera video showed the frightening moment when a wheel from a United Airlines plane slammed into a bakery delivery truck that was traveling on the New Jersey Turnpike.—
Clara McMichael,
ABC News,
4 May 2026
Adjective
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The first complaint, in which a clerk made similar accusations of abusive and harassing conduct, was filed with the circuit court in 2022, not long after Merriam’s appointment.—
Edmund H. Mahony,
Hartford Courant,
1 Jan. 2026
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The line is crossed when someone’s conduct at work becomes disrespectful, harassing, intimidating, discriminatory, or disruptive to the team.—
Johnny C. Taylor Jr,
USA Today,
30 Dec. 2025
Adjective
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My agent, Marty Diamond, had to face down a steady stream of ‘no’s from fearful artist reps.—
Michael Schneider,
Variety,
27 Apr. 2026
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The question of whether Balzac’s fear was real is perhaps less interesting than the work the story does to position the fearful encounter as simply a symptom of innovation.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
27 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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For most people, the idea of ceding control to a robot is out there at best; downright terrifying at worst.—
Eva Roytburg,
Fortune,
9 May 2026
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One of those terrifying moments happened on a public stairwell.—
Lexi Lane,
PEOPLE,
9 May 2026
Adjective
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The dinner scene with Niall’s mum, Lori (Neve McIntosh), and Ruben’s mum, Maura (Marianne McIvor) — when Joanna confronts them over Ruben’s behaviour — is both chilling and cathartic.—
K.J. Yossman,
Variety,
8 May 2026
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With the ubiquity of artificial intelligence, this revival is a chilling night at the theatre, Helen Shaw writes.—
Austin Elias-de Jesus,
New Yorker,
7 May 2026
Adjective
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Just because there’s something scary down the hall, that doesn’t mean that being a good person doesn’t matter.—
Kate Erbland,
IndieWire,
4 May 2026
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Makar took a scary hit along the boards from Foligno early in the first period.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
4 May 2026
Adjective
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The dangers to mental health, especially among teens, are already alarming.—
Gideon Lewis-Kraus,
New Yorker,
7 May 2026
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The findings also raise the remote but alarming prospect that previous missions have already exported hardy Earthly microbes to Mars.—
Leonard David,
Scientific American,
6 May 2026
Adjective
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That is a really horrible thing.—
David Chiu,
Forbes.com,
10 May 2026
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The Virginia Supreme Court has just struck down the Democrats’ horrible gerrymander.—
Justin Papp,
CNBC,
8 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Persecutory.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/persecutory. Accessed 11 May. 2026.
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