frighten

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

But it does hint strongly at extraterrestrial visitors being revealed to humankind with a tagline: "If you found out we weren't alone, if someone showed you, proved it to you, would that frighten you?"

From BBC ● Dec. 27, 2025

“If we wanted to frighten them with thunder, then you might be useful.”

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

It frightens me how painfully ironic it feels to cover a film about my industry’s demise when it was “The Devil Wears Prada” that pointed me here in the first place.

From Salon ● May 1, 2026

I’m not here to persuade you to fly if it frightens you that much.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 9, 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

They are not there when a noise frightens me.

From "Betty Before X" by Ilyasah Shabazz and Renée Watson

When Odysseus’ men arrive at Circe’s home, hungry, asking to be fed, Circe seems frightened — understandably so.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026

A place outsiders might dismiss as decadent was also where money was raised, grief was gathered and a frightened community turned nightlife into a lifeline.

From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026

"The bull was very frightened, it was spooked."

From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026

Three months on, she’s still too frightened to return to the hospital to have her stitches removed.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 28, 2026

The frightened chick made one small distress peep and that’s all it took.

From "Woodsong" by Gary Paulsen

It inherently asks us to consume these people and needs us to in order to make money, but sometimes consumers want to unhinge their jaws and eat these stars whole, a frightening and unsettling behavior.

From Slate ● Aug. 5, 2026

He grew up only 10 blocks from the American Museum of Natural History, where a frightening skull display first captured his imagination.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 5, 2026

"It is frightening because you don't know people's real intentions."

From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026

COVID-19 created the conditions in which conspiracy theories flourish: enormous uncertainty, frightening consequences, rapidly changing information and distrust of institutions.

From Salon ● Aug. 2, 2026

Trapped inside the glass, the Governor’s light was still bright, though a little less raw and frightening than it had been a moment before.

From "A Wish in the Dark" by Christina Soontornvat