frightened

frightened — adjective

1. experiencing the unpleasant emotion caused when you believe someone or something

1.adjectiveB1
Definition

experiencing the unpleasant emotion caused when you believe someone or something may hurt you, or when you are worried that something bad may happen

Example

Kwame has always been frightened of flying, so he takes the train whenever he can.

be frightened of + gerund (fearing an activity)

The little girl was too frightened to go down into the dark basement alone.

too frightened to + infinitive (unable to act)

Common collocations
  • frightened of
  • frightened by
  • frightened for
  • too frightened to
  • so frightened that
  • look frightened
  • sound frightened
  • feel frightened
  • get frightened
  • a little frightened
  • very frightened
  • extremely frightened
Synonyms
  • afraid

    more general and slightly more common; can be used more flexibly in sentence position ('the afraid child' is not natural, but 'afraid' works in most other positions like 'frightened')

  • scared

    more informal and conversational; preferred in everyday speech over 'frightened'

  • terrified

    much stronger — means extremely frightened; suggests a state of near-panic

  • alarmed

    suggests a sudden, sharp feeling of fear, often because of an unexpected danger or bad news

Antonyms
  • brave

    describes a person's character rather than a temporary state; implies ability to face danger without fear

  • calm

    describes a temporary emotional state opposite to the agitation of being frightened

Grammar Patterns

be frightened of + noun/gerund

be frightened to + infinitive

be frightened that + clause

be frightened by + noun

be frightened for + someone

Usage Note

Unlike afraid, frightened is not used directly before a noun (*a frightened child is acceptable but the pattern is less common than a child who is frightened). The most common pattern is be frightened of + noun/gerund. Frightened that is used when the cause is a possible event, and frightened for when you worry about someone's safety.

Common Mistakes

The loud noise made me very scary.
The loud noise made me very frightened.
'scary' means something causes fear; 'frightened' means you feel the fear.
I am frightening of spiders.
I am frightened of spiders.
'frightening' is an -ing adjective that describes something that causes fear, not the person who feels it.

❌ 'She is afraid to walk home alone, but I am not frightened of anything.' — 'afraid' and 'frightened' are both correct here; the error is using 'frightened of anything' to mean 'frightened by anything' — 'frightened of' is about a specific object of fear, while 'frightened by' is about the trigger.

Idioms

be frightened/nervous/scared of your own shadow

idiom

To become afraid or worried very easily, even about things that are not dangerous.

After the horror movie, Mia was scared of her own shadow.

Tom is so nervous that he's frightened of his own shadow.

be frightened/scared/terrified out of your wits

idiom

To be extremely frightened, so much that you cannot think clearly.

The sudden loud noise scared the children out of their wits.

Lena was frightened out of her wits when the car skidded.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

Frightened, afraid, and scared all describe the same basic feeling of fear, but differ in intensity and style. Afraid is the most neutral and widely used; it works in formal and informal contexts and covers both temporary fear and longer-term worry (afraid of getting sick). Scared is the most casual choice — it is very common in everyday conversation but less appropriate in formal writing. Frightened sits between them: it is common in both speech and writing but is slightly more formal than scared. Terrified is the strongest of the group, describing extreme, overwhelming fear (terrified of the earthquake). For example: 'Chiara is afraid of dogs' (general statement), but 'Chiara was terrified when the big dog ran toward her' (strong emotional reaction to a specific event). Scared would fit the same situation but sounds less dramatic: 'Chiara was scared when the dog ran toward her.'

afraid ↗scared ↗terrified ↗frightened ↗

Common collocations

Adverbs

Phrases

  • frightened to death
  • frightened out of one's wits

Prepositions

Etymology

Proto-GermanicOld EnglishMiddle EnglishModern English

Frightened comes from the verb frighten, which was formed in the 1600s by adding -en to the noun fright (sudden fear or alarm). Fright itself comes from Old English fyrhto, meaning 'fear, dread, trembling,' and can be traced back to the Proto-Germanic root *furht- ('fear'), which is also the source of the German word Furcht (fear).