frighten

First used by Ottoman military "mehter" bands to frighten and demoralise the enemy, cymbals were a useful tool for an empire on the warpath.

From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026

Fireworks can frighten animals and send them scattering, but Jackie and Shadow’s eaglets apparently are made of sterner stuff.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 6, 2026

The alerts didn’t frighten her as much as before, she said, and her fears about the future have eased.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026

"Until yesterday, I never thought there would be something that would frighten me of going back to Liverpool after the break. Team-mates come and go but not like this," Salah posted last summer.

From BBC ● May 23, 2026

He found himself shushed and needled out of the room, lest he wake the baby, or frighten the baby, or bore the baby to death with poetry.

From "The Girl Who Drank the Moon" by Kelly Barnhill

What frightens scientists more than the sheer numbers are that the cuts are arbitrary and manifestly pernicious.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2026

It frightens me how painfully ironic it feels to cover a film about my industry’s demise when it was “The Devil Wears Prada” that pointed me here in the first place.

From Salon ● May 1, 2026

I’m not here to persuade you to fly if it frightens you that much.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 9, 2026

Desai: It looked at year end like Kevin Hassett’s star was on the rise, but none of the names discussed frightens me.

From Barron's ● Jan. 9, 2026

Oma sits next to Opa and says, "Hitler frightens me. Those crazy eyes of his! And the way he knows exactly how to bring a crowd to hysteria."

From "The Boy Who Dared" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

"When she needed support, reassurance and fair treatment, she was left frightened, isolated and convinced her career and reputation had been destroyed," they added.

From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026

Once inside her childhood home, Annie was frightened by what she found—her mother’s purse and iPhone, items Nancy always kept close at hand.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026

A place outsiders might dismiss as decadent was also where money was raised, grief was gathered and a frightened community turned nightlife into a lifeline.

From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026

"Don't be frightened to hold your hand up and say, 'Give me some help,'" she says.

From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026

The mist billowed around her, and she started like a frightened animal.

From "Rowan of Rin" by Emily Rodda

Minnie Driver’s Paris adventures went awry this week when she was involved in a car accident that she’s describing as a frightening close call.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026

It inherently asks us to consume these people and needs us to in order to make money, but sometimes consumers want to unhinge their jaws and eat these stars whole, a frightening and unsettling behavior.

From Slate ● Aug. 5, 2026

He grew up only 10 blocks from the American Museum of Natural History, where a frightening skull display first captured his imagination.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 5, 2026

COVID-19 created the conditions in which conspiracy theories flourish: enormous uncertainty, frightening consequences, rapidly changing information and distrust of institutions.

From Salon ● Aug. 2, 2026

The cellar shook as the American tanks rolled past the house, and, as Henry saw the immense tanks, he realized for the first time how frightening German tanks must have appeared to the Russian people.

From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti