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What is "frightening"

Crossword clues for frightening

frightening
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
frightening
adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
more
▪ As he grows older he becomes more grotesque and therefore more frightening and effective in his second role.
▪ That was why Everett, suddenly, seemed more real, more frightening than usual.
▪ Food is more frightening to me than death itself.
▪ Witches are more frightening then wizards, wolves lurk in grandmother's clothing.
▪ It was not proper fighting but something more frightening.
▪ This may confirm Joan's fear of greed and make it more frightening for her to know about her own.
▪ It was even more frightening than the chugging, and it came right up to the shelter door.
▪ I believe that generosity becomes less between nations, as the world economy heads for a more frightening decline.
most
▪ The most frightening thing about what was happening was that Cesar did not appear to be angry.
▪ Male speaker Apart from the awful seasickness, the most frightening part was Cape Horn.
▪ The most frightening thing was that I thought it would never stop.
▪ And it was that secret pleasure that was most frightening.
▪ Hard, warm and, most frightening of all, so familiar.
▪ Never before had I passed such a terrible night, disturbed by the most frightening dreams.
▪ It is the most frightening place I have every played in.
▪ It was the most frightening moment of my life and I was icy calm.
quite
▪ It's been quite frightening to see.
▪ They're really on the ball, quite frightening sometimes.
▪ Soon Alice has woken from her strange sleep and the frenzy that was becoming quite frightening.
rather
▪ But when you first see it, it can be rather frightening, so hold on to small children's hands.
▪ Lord John thought Jane looked very beautiful but also rather frightening.
▪ It was rather frightening to think how easily men could do what they wanted, simply because of their superior physical strength.
▪ To Floy, they were beautiful and rather frightening and immensely powerful.
▪ It all had to be done in the dark and was rather frightening.
too
▪ It's been getting too frightening.
▪ I should have gone to the children's matinée but the serial, Spider Man, was too frightening.
▪ If the threats grew too frightening, he could always reconsider.
▪ They like their drama to be exciting, but not too frightening.
▪ We debated hopelessly, going round in ever decreasing circles: the Alps too crowded, the Himalaya too frightening.
very
▪ It's very frightening, this - the thought that people actually know what's going on in your mind.
▪ Her booming voice, very frightening to children, was usually occupied in gossiping to every passer-by.
▪ He says some one people can go through the experience of the crash all over again and it's very frightening.
▪ Carolyn was dismayed; she had found the place very frightening on her previous visits.
▪ It was a very frightening subject, personal experiences came up.
▪ The first few days in a residential home can be very frightening for many elderly people.
▪ To many early rail travellers, however, the gloom of the tunnel was very frightening.
▪ A sui - ... what you did, is a very frightening thing, Liz.
■ NOUN
experience
▪ It is a frightening experience, and I have never heard of anyone doing it a second time.
▪ Mr. Rifkind I think that it must have been a frightening experience for people trapped within the train for that time.
▪ Learning About Life A young horse will take time to learn about life and about what is a genuinely frightening experience.
▪ Suddenly, she remembered some one had once told her that falling in love was a frightening experience.
▪ It was a very frightening experience - and only afterwards could we laugh about it.
▪ During her visit she had two frightening experiences.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
be a (beautiful/strange/frightening etc) sight to behold
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ After so many years, going back to college and studying was a frightening prospect.
▪ Driving in big cities can be pretty frightening for many people.
▪ Flying in an airplane can be a frightening prospect for some people.
▪ It's frightening to think that something like this can happen in America today.
▪ It was frightening not to know what was happening.
▪ The crime rate in this city is frightening.
▪ There are so many people with guns these days, it's really frightening.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ The data transfer was the most frightening part.
▪ The discovery that it is true can be a frightening and instructive process.
▪ The funny thing was, this was less frightening, even though it was real.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Frightening

Frighten \Fright"en\, v. t. [imp. Frightened; p. pr. & vb. n. Frightening.] [See Fright, v. t.] To disturb with fear; to throw into a state of alarm or fright; to affright; to terrify.

More frightened than hurt.
--Old Proverb.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
frightening

1715, present participle adjective from frighten (v.). Related: Frighteningly.

Wiktionary
frightening

  1. 1 Causing fear; of capable of causing fear; scary. 2 (context figuratively English) awful, terrible, very bad. v

  2. (present participle of frighten English)

WordNet
frightening

n. to inspire with fear [syn: terrorization, terrorisation]

frightening

adj. causing fear or dread or terror; "the awful war"; "an awful risk"; "dire news"; "a career or vengeance so direful that London was shocked"; "the dread presence of the headmaster"; "polio is no longer the dreaded disease it once was"; "a dreadful storm"; "a fearful howling"; "horrendous explosions shook the city"; "a terrible curse" [syn: awful, dire, direful, dread(a), dreaded, dreadful, fearful, fearsome, horrendous, horrific, terrible]

Usage examples of "frightening".

Brutus and his men that night Achates was born, only infinitely more frightening, more murderous.

And Adam suddenly realized that an emotionless, indifferent Amaranth was not the most frightening thing he could think of.

Only the monstrous, frightening head, with pointed ears aprick, hanging there immobile.

What eyes-and-ears reported from Altara and Arad Doman was all confusion, and the few reports beginning to seep out of Tarabon again were frightening.

It takes Marie and Dougal two full days to find decent belay points for the hundred and fifty metres of the band, and every morning the rockfall is frequent and frightening.

Atomic Bomb, who had succeeded the Bogger Man as a means of frightening children, one of the younger calves bawled.

At mention of Atomic Bomb, who had succeeded the Bogger Man as a means of frightening children, one of the younger calves bawled.

Twice they were intercepted, but Bunion dispatched the attackers with a swiftness that was frightening.

It was all so pleasant, and every day was so full of excitement, that it went to his head, and if he was sometimes seized by panic, and felt himself to be careering along at a pace he could no longer control, such frightening moments could not endure when Chuffy was summoning him to come and try the paces of a capital goer, or Jack Carnaby carrying him off to the theatre, or the Five-courts, or the Daffy Club.

By the third week he found his comates no more frightening than if they had been stricken by consumption or cancer.

More frightening, Sysquemalyn vacillated between sane and insane, shrieking one minute, cooing the next as if playing her own games.

Rules out the possibility of frightening off the defector before the fucker has a chance to give us his name, rank, and serial number.

She took Ventura Boulevard the rest of the way, encountered gridlock, foul tempers, distracted cell phone gabbers, some truly frightening risk-taking.

By degrees he approaches nearer and nearer, until at length the sight of him has become so familiar that he can advance to stroke his tame gayals on the back and neck without frightening the wild ones.

Karen Reading was telling the truth: my grandma was always frightening us with ghosties and ghoulies and things that go bump in the night.