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Definitions

frighten

[frahyt-n] / ˈfraɪt n /


Example Sentences

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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

He’s a student of life as much as he is filmmaking, a humanist who forges connections with spectacular sights of the things that frighten and fascinate us the most.

From Salon Jun. 28, 2026

“They tell you to alert the bear to make sure you don’t frighten it. I called, ‘Hey bear!

From Los Angeles Times Jun. 7, 2026

Chinese officials first tried to frighten Ms. Takaichi off such a hawkish line with insulting rhetoric.

From The Wall Street Journal Feb. 24, 2026

It didn’t seem to frighten Resa to be so near the dead.

From "Inkheart" by Cornelia Funke

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

From Los Angeles Times Jun. 11, 2026

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

From MarketWatch Apr. 9, 2026

"Touch wood, no. I've been very, very close. It's this that frightens them", he tugs his orange vest.

From BBC Mar. 16, 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

He realizes something that frightens him: Inspector Becker seems to have already found Franz Seemann guilty.

From "The Boy Who Dared" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

His favorite musician is Prince, but when the book begins, he’s too frightened to buy the artist’s new album, “Lovesexy.”

From The Wall Street Journal Aug. 25, 2026

“I was frightened about it,” Ochoa, now 78, who was born in Los Angeles and spoke no Spanish at the time, said in an interview.

From Los Angeles Times Aug. 24, 2026

After the riots, Maria stayed inside her home for seven days, too frightened to leave.

From BBC Aug. 22, 2026

Chris was frightened after hearing about the arrests at Hunter Bookstore, but he says he will keep going.

From BBC Aug. 21, 2026

He put the cage down and held the kingfisher to his chest, murmuring a soft apology to the frightened bird.

From "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri

It’s a frightening thing to take a step toward the future, going so far that you can no longer see where your journey began, yet unable to identify where it might end.

From Salon Aug. 28, 2026

The Ebola virus has spread across Democratic Republic of Congo at a frightening speed and one of the authorities' biggest fears is that it reaches the teeming capital of Kinshasa.

From Barron's Aug. 22, 2026

While it sounds frightening to say rates are higher than they’ve been in nearly 20 years, the past two decades are the era that was abnormal.

From The Wall Street Journal Aug. 18, 2026

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

Then, as if the Sputnik satellite wasn’t frightening enough, just one month later the Russians launched Sputnik 2, which carried a dog as a passenger.

From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson




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