as in terrifying
causing fear
a truly frightening movie
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in scaring
to strike with fear
around the campfire the campers tried to frighten one another with ghostly legends and grisly tales
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of frightening
Matthew Korfhage, Wired News, 23 May 2025
Herta was able to get out of the car and walk away from the frightening accident.
—Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 17 May 2025
The frightening injury resulted in an ambulance being called onto the field.
—Jon Vankin, MSNBC Newsweek, 16 May 2025
Major cities like New York were already facing frightening death tolls that climbed higher each day—but that’s not what Eddington is about.
—Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 17 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for frightening
Adjective
There’s a lot of interest in plastic-free everything, in these days when new and frightening revelations about microplastics seem to come once a week.
—Matthew Korfhage, Wired News, 23 May 2025
Herta was able to get out of the car and walk away from the frightening accident.
—Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 17 May 2025
The frightening injury resulted in an ambulance being called onto the field.
—Jon Vankin, MSNBC Newsweek, 16 May 2025
Major cities like New York were already facing frightening death tolls that climbed higher each day—but that’s not what Eddington is about.
—Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 17 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for frightening
Recent Examples of Synonyms for frightening
Adjective
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May has been equally terrifying for Ukrainian civilians.—
Ivana Kottasová,
CNN Money,
27 May 2025
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As the mysterious contract killer Vincent, Cruise brings his usual on-screen qualities — strict professionalism, precise physicality, ruthless persistence — but turns them on their head to embody a terrifying, amoral murderer.—
Wesley Stenzel,
EW.com,
24 May 2025
Adjective
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Make that the second scariest, as Claire’s antics bring another menacing character into their lives, when her dealer, Jackie (Domhnall Gleeson), shows up at Echo Valley looking for 10 grand in heroin.—
Peter Debruge,
Variety,
7 June 2025
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Both events offer live entertainment, themed food, and access to select park attractions with generally shorter wait times than during the day How scary is Universal Halloween Horror Nights?—
Eve Chen,
USA Today,
6 June 2025
Adjective
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Sinha’s strategic interventions have substantially scaled up businesses, powering a formidable sales pipeline by assisting the company in landing enterprise-level engagements.—
Daniel Fusch,
USA Today,
3 June 2025
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Everything points to the fact that Karolína’s exceptional talent has caught the attention of the formidable and much admired choirmaster.—
Leo Barraclough,
Variety,
3 June 2025
Verb
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Jung-bae wound up in a room of three, with Player 001 and some rando — but Player 001 choked the stranger to death in time to reduce their head count, shocking Jung-bae more than a bit.—
Matt Webb Mitovich,
TVLine,
26 Dec. 2024
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Fox News Digital obtained shocking audio between Cyrus and his estranged wife where the country crooner is heard berating his Australian ex and using profane language.—
Ashley Hume,
Fox News,
26 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Even with the horrible start the Red Sox still nearly came all the way back, twice drawing to within one run, but the club couldn’t get over the hump.—
Mac Cerullo,
Boston Herald,
3 June 2025
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Even on a horrible team, someone has to score, get rebounds and assists.—
Ira Winderman,
Sun Sentinel,
2 June 2025
Adjective
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Kids these days have attention spans crushed under the terrible weight of TikTok and Instgram.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
3 June 2025
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My heart goes out to the victims of this terrible tragedy, and the Great People of Boulder, Colorado!—
Dan Mangan,
CNBC,
2 June 2025
Adjective
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Perhaps better than any other source of encouragement, parents can make counseling appear less intimidating and more important.—
Eric Wood,
Forbes.com,
27 May 2025
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The Cosmos, like its namesake, is nothing if not enormous and intimidating.—
PC Magazine,
PC Magazine,
25 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Frightening.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/frightening. Accessed 10 Jun. 2025.
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