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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Beats that might once have been framed through a hazy, absurdist lens now play as something much more fatalistic and frightening.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
20 Apr. 2026
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Forget about sonic or other frightening devices.—
Arricca Elin SanSone,
Southern Living,
19 Apr. 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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When Kennedy spreads fear, parents become fearful and often refuse vaccines, and herd immunity begins to crack.—
Letters to the Editor,
The Orlando Sentinel,
16 Apr. 2026
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Her Catherine is less defined by the quirky, appealing eccentricities of Mary-Louise Parker’s performance in the original 2000 Broadway staging, but is girded by a certain angry resignation, fearful of what life might have in store, furious too, yet seething with a will to defy it all.—
Greg Evans,
Deadline,
16 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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This isn’t the terrifying Frost of modernist criticism—although the poem is fully aware of darkness, and its world, on the cusp of World War I, like ours, certainly had its terrors.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
24 Apr. 2026
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Most prior visits had morphed into extended trips into a terrifying medical underworld — to a purgatory known as emergency department boarding.—
Elisabeth Rosenthal,
Miami Herald,
24 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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To the left is a relaxed deck for post-dip chilling; to the right is the beautifully restrained restaurant, partly enclosed in a glasshouse with an undulating canopy roof.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
24 Apr. 2026
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They are measured in the reputational damage that will take years to remediate, and in the chilling effect on future endeavors intended to do good at scale.—
Steve Henson,
Los Angeles Times,
23 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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This season, Point came back from a scary right knee in January that kept him out of the Olympics.—
Eduardo A. Encina,
The Orlando Sentinel,
17 Apr. 2026
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Josh Rottenberg spoke to Odenkirk, 63, about his recent career revision, notable for following his recovery from a scary heart attack.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
17 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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Suzuki’s early struggles aren’t terribly alarming.—
Meghan Montemurro,
Chicago Tribune,
22 Apr. 2026
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Losing at home is one thing, but Detroit never led in Game 1, which is about as alarming as a playoff opener can be.—
Dan Santaromita,
New York Times,
20 Apr. 2026
Adjective
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On that horrible day, Dad was outside his vehicle supervising a ditch cleaning operation when a driver ignored traffic control devices, drove through a closed lane, and struck him, pinning him between two vehicles.—
Allysson Bornt,
New York Daily News,
19 Apr. 2026
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And every family has that annoying uncle that makes horrible jokes or one situation after another.—
Lexi Lane,
PEOPLE,
18 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Persecutory.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/persecutory. Accessed 27 Apr. 2026.
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