frightening
adjective
fright·en·ing
ˈfrī-tᵊn-iŋ 
ˈfrīt-niŋ
: causing fear
frightening news
a very frightening experience
The man with red eyes made the frightening grimace that passed for his smile.—
Madeleine L'Engle
Madeleine L'EngleFor a man who had tussled with crocs, venomous snakes and other frightening creatures, this was going to be a leisurely swim.—Jennifer Wulff et al.
Jennifer Wulff et al.Synonyms
Examples of frightening in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
For more than two years, as this country of 44 million people has fought off an all-out invasion by neighboring Russia, a spirit of stubborn optimism prevailed even amid the most frightening moments.
—Laura King, Los Angeles Times, 12 Apr. 2024
The feeling in the room that night was that people were almost giddy with how different and funny and frightening and truly bizarre some of the show seemed to them.
—Todd Gilchrist, Variety, 8 Apr. 2024
The Israeli strikes on the neighborhood became more frequent and frightening, Ms. Soussana said, noting that some shattered the windows.
—Ronen Bergman, New York Times, 26 Mar. 2024
Yet in recent years, social media has begun toying with this most unholy combination to fascinating—and frightening—results.
—Jonathan Dale / The Takeout, Quartz, 17 Mar. 2024
Teens and young adults shared personal stories of coming across frightening posts while scrolling social media, getting lascivious and predatory messages from strangers, and watching friends spiral into anxiety and depression made worse by time spent on the web.
—Katie Shepherd, Washington Post, 15 Mar. 2024
The frightening door plug incident, however, shined a spotlight on the years of safety concerns at the company.
—Chris Isidore, CNN, 10 Mar. 2024
The early details were frightening enough, but very quickly turned utterly catastrophic.
—Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, 2 Apr. 2024
There are certainly elements in the film that may be too frightening for children ages 6 and under.
—Tim Lammers, Forbes, 28 Mar. 2024
Laura King, Los Angeles Times, 12 Apr. 2024
The feeling in the room that night was that people were almost giddy with how different and funny and frightening and truly bizarre some of the show seemed to them.
—Todd Gilchrist, Variety, 8 Apr. 2024
The Israeli strikes on the neighborhood became more frequent and frightening, Ms. Soussana said, noting that some shattered the windows.
—Ronen Bergman, New York Times, 26 Mar. 2024
Yet in recent years, social media has begun toying with this most unholy combination to fascinating—and frightening—results.
—Jonathan Dale / The Takeout, Quartz, 17 Mar. 2024
Teens and young adults shared personal stories of coming across frightening posts while scrolling social media, getting lascivious and predatory messages from strangers, and watching friends spiral into anxiety and depression made worse by time spent on the web.
—Katie Shepherd, Washington Post, 15 Mar. 2024
The frightening door plug incident, however, shined a spotlight on the years of safety concerns at the company.
—Chris Isidore, CNN, 10 Mar. 2024
The early details were frightening enough, but very quickly turned utterly catastrophic.
—Nabih Bulos, Los Angeles Times, 2 Apr. 2024
There are certainly elements in the film that may be too frightening for children ages 6 and under.
—Tim Lammers, Forbes, 28 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'frightening.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near frightening
Cite this Entry
“Frightening.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/frightening. Accessed 24 Apr. 2024.
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