frighten

verb/ˈfraɪtən/

Frequency rank: #11,997 of 20,003 in the WORDED list (wordfreq data)

Meaning

to cause someone to feel sudden fear or alarm

Illustration for the English word “frighten”

Example sentence

The loud thunder managed to frighten the children playing outside.

Synonyms & related words

More words in ranks 11,901–12,000