Frightful

Frightful
Frightful Fright"ful, a. 1. Full of fright; affrighted; frightened. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

See how the frightful herds run from the wood. --W. Browne. [1913 Webster]

2. Full of that which causes fright; exciting alarm; impressing terror; shocking; as, a frightful chasm, or tempest; a frightful appearance.

Syn: Terrible; dreadful; alarming; fearful; terrific; awful; horrid; horrible; shocking.

Usage: {Frightful}, {Dreadful}, {Awful}. These words all express fear. In frightful, it is a sudden emotion; in dreadful, it is deeper and more prolonged; in awful, the fear is mingled with the emotion of awe, which subdues us before the presence of some invisible power. An accident may be frightful; the approach of death is dreadful to most men; the convulsions of the earthquake are awful. [1913 Webster]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.

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  • frightful — [adj2] offensive annoying, awful, bad, calamitous, disagreeable, dreadful, extreme, ghastly, great, hideous, horrible, insufferable, lewd, shocking, terrible, terrific, unpleasant, vile, wicked, wrong; concepts 529,545 Ant. delightful, gentle,… …   New thesaurus

  • frightful — [frīt′fəl] adj. 1. causing fright; terrifying; alarming 2. shocking; terrible 3. Informal a) unpleasant; annoying b) great [in a frightful hurry] frightfully adv. frightfulness n …   English World dictionary

  • frightful — index deplorable, disastrous, formidable, insufferable, loathsome, ominous, portentous (ominous) …   Law dictionary

  • frightful — (adj.) mid 13c., timid; c.1600 alarming; from FRIGHT (Cf. fright) + FUL (Cf. ful). In common with most ful adjectives, it once had both an active and passive sense. Meaning dreadful, horrible, shocking (often hyperbolic) is attested from c.1700;… …   Etymology dictionary

  • frightful — dreadful, *fearful, awful, terrible, terrific, horrible, horrific, shocking, appalling Analogous words: *ghastly, grisly, gruesome, macabre, grim, lurid: *sinister, baleful, malign …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • frightful — ► ADJECTIVE 1) very unpleasant, serious, or shocking. 2) informal terrible; awful. DERIVATIVES frightfully adverb frightfulness noun …   English terms dictionary

  • frightful — [[t]fra͟ɪtfʊl[/t]] 1) ADJ GRADED Frightful means very bad or unpleasant. [OLD FASHIONED] My father was unable to talk about the war, it was so frightful. Syn: terrible 2) ADJ: ADJ n (emphasis) Frightful is used to emphasize the extent or degree… …   English dictionary

  • frightful — frightfully, adv. frightfulness, n. /fruyt feuhl/, adj. 1. such as to cause fright; dreadful, terrible, or alarming: A frightful howl woke us. 2. horrible, shocking, or revolting: The storm did frightful damage. 3. Informal. unpleasant;… …   Universalium

  • frightful — fright•ful [[t]ˈfraɪt fəl[/t]] adj. 1) such as to cause fright; dreadful, terrible, or alarming: a frightful explosion[/ex] 2) horrible, shocking, or revolting: The storm did frightful damage[/ex] 3) inf unpleasant; disagreeable: We had a… …   From formal English to slang

  • frightful — adjective Full of that which causes fright; exciting alarm; impressing terror; shocking; as, a frightful chasm, or tempest; a frightful appearance. We wasted a frightful amount of money on renovations. Syn: terrible, dreadful, alarming, fearful,… …   Wiktionary

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