fear a feeling of being frightened:
He was trembling with fear. Fear of failure should not stop you trying.terror a feeling of great fear, because you think that something terrible is about to happen:
She let out a scream of pure terror.fright a sudden feeling of fear, or a situation that makes you feel this:
My body was shaking with fright. You gave me a fright! He’s had a bit of fright, that’s all.panic a sudden feeling of fear or nervousness that makes you unable to think clearly or behave sensibly:
She was in such a panic that she hardly knew what she was doing! There were scenes of sheer panic immediately following the bomb blast.alarm a feeling of fear or worry which shows in your voice or behaviour, because you think something bad might happen:
When I mentioned her name, he looked up at me in alarm. The streets were calm and there was no sign of alarm.foreboding /fɔːˈbəʊdɪŋ $ fɔːrˈboʊ-/ a feeling that something bad or unpleasant might happen although there is no obvious reason why it should:
She felt the same sense of foreboding she had before her father died.phobia /ˈfəʊbiə $ ˈfoʊ-/ a permanent strong unreasonable fear of something:
I had a phobia about going to the dentist.frighten to make someone feel afraid:
The thought of being in court frightened him.scare especially spoken to frighten someone.
Scare is less formal than
frighten, and is the usual word to use in everyday English:
He was driving fast just to scare us. It scared him to think that his mother might never recover.terrify to make someone feel extremely frightened:
The idea of going down into the caves terrified her. Robbers terrified bank staff by threatening them at gunpoint.give somebody a fright to make someone suddenly feel frightened in a way that makes their heart beat more quickly:
It gave me a terrible fright when I found him unconscious on the floor.give somebody the creeps if a person or place gives you the creeps, they make you feel slightly frightened because they are strange:
This house gives me the creeps.startle to frighten someone. Used when you suddenly see someone and did not know they were there, or when you suddenly hear something:
I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. The noise startled him, and he dropped his glass on the floor.intimidate to deliberately frighten someone, especially so that they will do what you want:
Many of the gangs were using dogs to intimidate people. [TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲
frighten to make someone feel afraid:
The thought of being in court frightened him.scare especially spoken to frighten someone.
Scare is less formal than
frighten, and is the usual word to use in everyday English:
He was driving fast just to scare us. It scared him to think that his mother might never recover.terrify to make someone feel extremely frightened:
The idea of going down into the caves terrified her. Robbers terrified bank staff by threatening them at gunpoint.give somebody a fright to make someone suddenly feel frightened in a way that makes their heart beat more quickly:
It gave me a terrible fright when I found him unconscious on the floor.give somebody the creeps if a person or place gives you the creeps, they make you feel slightly frightened because they are strange:
This house gives me the creeps.startle to frighten someone. Used when you suddenly see someone and did not know they were there, or when you suddenly hear something:
I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. The noise startled him, and he dropped his glass on the floor.alarm to make someone feel frightened and worried that something bad might happen:
I didn’t want to alarm her by calling in the middle of the night.intimidate to deliberately frighten someone, especially so that they will do what you want:
Many of the gangs were using dogs to intimidate people. [TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲