frightening

frightening — adjective

1. Something that is frightening makes you feel afraid or worried that something ba

1.adjectiveB1
Definition

Something that is frightening makes you feel afraid or worried that something bad might happen.

Example

The thunderstorm was so frightening that seven-year-old Hui hid under her bed.

so + adj + that clause

Walking home alone through the empty streets at midnight felt frightening to the young nurse.

Common collocations
  • frightening experience
  • frightening thought
  • frightening moment
  • frightening speed
  • absolutely frightening
  • quite frightening
  • find something frightening
Synonyms
  • scary

    more informal and common in everyday conversation; slightly less intense

  • terrifying

    stronger — causes extreme or overwhelming fear

  • alarming

    suggests sudden worry or concern rather than deep fear; often used for news or statistics

  • spooky

    informal; suggests an eerie or supernatural kind of fear

Antonyms

Grammar Patterns

be + frightening

find + sth/sb + frightening

it + be + frightening + to-infinitive

so + frightening + that-clause

frightening + for + person

Usage Note

Commonly used with intensifiers (very, really, quite, extremely). Frequently appears in the pattern 'find + object + frightening' and in extraposed structures like 'It is frightening to [verb].' Less intense than terrifying but stronger than scary (informal).

Common Mistakes

The movie was very frightening me.
The movie was very frightening.
'frightening' is an adjective; use 'frighten' for the verb form ('The movie frightened me.').

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

Frightening is the most neutral and widely used of these words — it fits both formal and informal contexts and describes anything that causes fear. Scary (informal) is the everyday choice for casual conversation: 'a scary movie,' 'a scary noise.' Terrifying is much stronger, suggesting a level of fear that overwhelms or paralyses: 'a terrifying near-death experience.' Alarming differs in tone — it points to sudden worry or concern rather than deep dread, making it common for reports and news: 'an alarming increase in road accidents.' Use frightening when you want to sound natural and serious without choosing the casual tone of scary or the extreme intensity of terrifying.

scary ↗terrifying ↗alarming ↗frightening ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • find something frightening
  • a frightening amount of
  • frightening to think

Prepositions

Etymology

Old EnglishEnglish

Frightening comes from the verb 'frighten,' which developed in the 1600s from the earlier noun 'fright' (meaning 'sudden fear'). 'Fright' itself traces back to Old English 'fyrhto' or 'forht,' meaning 'fear, dread, trembling.' Related words exist in other Germanic languages, such as Old High German 'forhta.' The adjective 'frightening' (using the -ing participle form) became common by the 1800s.