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to affright

to affright

9.9
To cause sudden fear in someone
  • verb
  • /əˈfraɪt/
  • Archaic
translation icon : asustar
  • Let nothing disturb you, nothing affright you.

When God has a mind to show it, He can easily and in a moment affright the hardiest creature.

Examples

  • When God has a mind to show it, He can easily and in a moment affright the hardiest creature.

  • Yet shall the crowing of these cockerels affright a lion?

  • "When the savages were silent, "that was when the company was most affrighted.

  • And they were affrighted.

  • Can this cockpit hold the vasty fields of France or may we cram within this wooden "o"... the very casques that did affright the air at Agincourt?

  • In truth, his own antipathy to the veil was known to be so great that he never willingly passed before a mirror, nor stooped to drink at a still fountain, lest, in its peaceful bosom, he should be affrighted by himself.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • The loud thunderclap seemed to affright the small children playing outside.

  • The sudden appearance of the ghostly figure was enough to affright everyone at the party.

  • A sudden movement in the bushes would affright any unsuspecting passerby.

Synonyms

to scare
vsto affright
1.0

To make someone feel afraid or unsure of themselves

is archaic and more formal than this common everyday form
to frighten
vsto affright
540 1.0

To make someone feel afraid

is the archaic form used historically rather than commonly today
to terrify
vsto affright
148 3.2

To make someone feel very frightened

is an older, neutral term that implies less intense fear
to scare the hell out of
vsto affright
  • Informal
56 6.7

To make someone very afraid

is archaic and formal, not this informal intense expression
to scare the bejesus out of
vsto affright
  • Informal
5 8.8

To make someone very afraid

is archaic and formal, not a sudden slang expression
to fright
vsto affright
2 3.2

To make someone feel afraid

is an older, less used word rather than this common modern term
to gast
vsto affright
  • Archaic
9.9

To make someone feel very frightened

is the same meaning but is another archaic variant

Antonyms

163 3.4

To make someone feel less worried and more confident

How Frightening

to terrify
148 3.2
to alarm
133 1.9
to affright
  • Archaic
9.9
to unsettle
7 4.9
to startle
131 3.7

Surface Forms

affright infinitive
affrighted past
affrighted past participle
affrighting present participle
affrights third person singular

Morphology

affright = fright (semi-transparent) = a + fright

The prefix 'a-' is not commonly productive in modern English, making the derivation less transparent.

Etymology

Affright is built from a- and fright, and it originally meant 'to make someone afraid'. So, to affright someone is to cause sudden or intense fear.