fright
/fɹaɪt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.30 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
1
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A state of terror excited by the sudden appearance of danger; sudden and violent fear, usually of short duration; a sudden alarm.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
Someone strange, ugly or shocking, producing a feeling of alarm or aversion.
Countable; Uncountable
adj
Example Sentences
- "With a bolt of fright he remembered that there was no bathroom in the Hobhouse Room. He leapt along the corridor in a panic, stopping by the long-case clock at the end where he flattened himself against the wall."
- "Her maids were old, and if she took a new one, You might be sure she was a perfect fright; She did this during even her husband's life I recommend as much to every wife."
- "Are not you he […] That frights the maidens of the villagery […] ?"
- "Little Miss Muffet, She sat on a tuffet, Eating of curds and whey; There came a little spider, Who sat down beside her, And frighted Miss Muffet away."
- "A very fine situation was proposed to him, where he might have a noble view of the ocean; but he started back, with an attitude of terror Betterton might envy, when Hamlet meets his father's ghost, and cried out,—"Oh, Christ! the sea looks so fierce that it frights me!"
- "Don't be fright, it is not so impossible as it seems."
Etymology
From Middle English fright, furht, from Old English fryhtu, fyrhto (“fright, fear, dread, trembling, horrible sight”), from Proto-Germanic *furhtį̄ (“fear”), from Proto-Indo-European *pr̥k- (“to fear”). Cognate with Scots fricht (“fright”), Old Frisian fruchte (“fright”), Low German frucht (“fright”), Middle Dutch vrucht, German Furcht (“fear, fright”), Danish frygt (“fear”), Swedish fruktan (“fear, fright, dread”), Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌷𐍄𐌴𐌹 (faurhtei, “fear, horror, fright”). Compare possibly Albanian frikë (“fear, fright, dread, danger”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /fɹaɪt/
- British English: /fɹaɪt/
Usage
Inflected Forms
frights (plural)
frights (present, singular)
frighting (participle, present)
frighted (participle, past)
frighted (past)
more fright (comparative)
most fright (superlative)