😱 Spreading fear 😱 Causing fear

fearmongering

7.5

Trying to make people afraid to influence their views

adjective
/ˈfɪrˌmʌŋɡərɪŋ/

: alarmista

Many media outlets engage in fearmongering to attract viewers by highlighting frightening events.

Examples

And James Clapper's fearmongering letter, which was liberated by Sam Stein, is particularly absurd on most counts.

Blog text (14)
The politician's fearmongering tactics were criticized for exploiting public anxiety to gain votes.
The advertisement was filled with fearmongering claims about the dangers of not purchasing the product.

Synonyms

demagoguery

vsfearmongering

Literature

13 9.5

To win support by using strong emotion and fear in speeches

focuses specifically on using fear deliberately to change opinions rather than broad emotional appeal

alarmism

vsfearmongering

4 8.1

Making dangers seem worse than they are to make people worried for no reason

focuses on deliberate fear to influence opinions rather than only warning

scaremongering

vsfearmongering

2 7.3

Spreading exaggerated fear on purpose to make people worry

is the same deliberate tactic aimed at changing opinions or behavior

doom mongering

vsfearmongering

Literature

8.4

Saying the future will be bad to make people worried

frames events to frighten people with intent to influence behavior

Antonyms

comforting

134 1.4

Making someone feel less worried or upset

reassuring

78 3.1

Makes someone feel less worried and calmer

How Frightening

fearmongering

7.5

scaremongering

7.8

alarmism

4 8.1

sensationalism

Literature

12 7.0

Surface Forms

fearmongering positive

Morphology

fearmongering = fearmonger (semi-transparent) = fear + monger + ing

The adjective is transparently related to the verb 'fearmonger' via the participial '-ing' form, but the specialized compound base makes the meaning slightly less straightforward than a fully regular adjective.

Etymology

The adjective fearmongering describes words or actions that 'sell' fear, using monger in the same way as warmonger. That's why calling something fearmongering means it is meant to make people afraid so they will change their choices or opinions.