frighten
Example Sentences
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First used by Ottoman military "mehter" bands to frighten and demoralise the enemy, cymbals were a useful tool for an empire on the warpath.
From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026
The alerts didn’t frighten her as much as before, she said, and her fears about the future have eased.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
He’s a student of life as much as he is filmmaking, a humanist who forges connections with spectacular sights of the things that frighten and fascinate us the most.
From Salon ● Jun. 28, 2026
“They tell you to alert the bear to make sure you don’t frighten it. I called, ‘Hey bear!
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 7, 2026
Local farmers wanted to hang dead crows around the town on public buildings to frighten the others away; ornithologists said that it wouldn’t work, that the living crows would simply eat the dead ones.
From "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman
I’m not here to persuade you to fly if it frightens you that much.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 9, 2026
"What frightens myself and my husband is what I think has happened with Fairmont," she said.
From BBC ● Mar. 2, 2026
Desai: It looked at year end like Kevin Hassett’s star was on the rise, but none of the names discussed frightens me.
From Barron's ● Jan. 9, 2026
A sniff of a rotting old chair frightens Indy so much, he wets the rug.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2025
I don’t want to tell him how much the sound of the siren frightens me and brings back memories of the accident.
From "Lucky Broken Girl" by Ruth Behar
"I became frightened of it and how it controlled me, " McCoubrey said.
From BBC ● Aug. 23, 2026
Hilton’s sister, Barbara Giarraffa, frightened fans and TikTok moderators were among those who called authorities.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
A major incident was declared near Llandovery, Carmarthenshire, after dozens of homes were evacuated and roads closed, while residents near a blaze in south Wales said they were "frightened".
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
He was pained and frightened: He’d never seen such a thing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
“Jay Berry,” she said in a frightened voice, “that thing’s not a monkey. It looks like a young gorilla. You be careful.”
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
The Ebola virus has spread across Democratic Republic of Congo at a frightening speed and one of the authorities' biggest fears is that it reaches the teeming capital of Kinshasa.
From Barron's ● Aug. 22, 2026
While it sounds frightening to say rates are higher than they’ve been in nearly 20 years, the past two decades are the era that was abnormal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
Minnie Driver’s Paris adventures went awry this week when she was involved in a car accident that she’s describing as a frightening close call.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
While it may be months before the full scale of the devastation this year is known, Thomas said the situation was "very frightening".
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
“To be frank, you are the most frightening thing I have encountered.”
From "The Unseen Guest" by Maryrose Wood
Vocabulary lists containing frighten
Unit 1, Academic Vocabulary
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Terrify
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Terrify
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