Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to frighten away

to frighten away

1 2.8
To make people or animals go away by scaring them
  • phrasal verb
  • /ˈfraɪtən əˈweɪ/
translation icon : ahuyentar
  • Thomas and his father help Mr. Pluto frighten away thieves by pretending to be the ghosts of dead slaves.
  • frighten away the animals

Examples

  • The Irish and Scottish people began making lanterns by carving scary faces into turnips or potatoes and placing them in windows or near doors to frighten away the wandering evil spirits.

    Blog text (18)

  • All her sources have been frightened away by the stupid monsters.

    Hickey & Boggs (1972)

  • Do you think the angel of death will be frightened away by cough medicine?

    Yentl (1983)

  • It moved very fast, and it made so much noise that it frightened away the animals.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • Birds are so distant, so mobile, and so easily frightened away from the hopeful photographer.

    Academic text (2010)

  • Perhaps we can frighten away the ghost of so many years ago... with a little illumination.

    The Phantom of the Opera (2004)

  • The loud noise from the fireworks frightened away all the birds from the tree.

  • She waved her arms to frighten away the bees that were buzzing around her.

  • The sudden splash in the pool frightened away the ducks from the edge.

Synonyms

to deter
vsto frighten away
94 5.6

Make someone less likely to do something by making them fear bad results

aims to make someone leave by directly frightening them
to drive away
vsto frighten away
71 3.4

To force a person, animal, or feeling to go away

uses fear specifically to cause leaving rather than general unpleasantness
to scare off
vsto frighten away
68 2.7

To make people or animals go away by frightening them

makes them go away specifically by causing fear
to scare away
vsto frighten away
47 2.5

Make a person or animal go away because they are afraid

forces absence through fear rather than a mild warning
to chase off
vsto frighten away
6 3.3

Make someone or something leave a place by running after and frightening them

relies mainly on fear without needing physical pursuit
to frighten off
vsto frighten away
1 3.3

To make someone or something go away by making them afraid

causes departure by fear rather than by other pressure

Antonyms

to welcome
583 1.0

Greet someone in a friendly way when they arrive

to attract
91 3.2

Make things move toward a magnet or the Sun

How Scary

to scare off
68 2.7
to frighten away
1 2.8
to shoo away
5 4.1

Surface Forms

frighten away infinitive
frightened away past
frightened away past participle
frightening away present participle
frightens away third person singular

Morphology

frighten + away

The meaning 'to make someone go away by causing fear' is directly compositional from 'frighten' (to induce fear) plus the particle 'away' (indicating movement off). This follows a common English verb + particle pattern that is cross-linguistically familiar, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

The phrase frighten away comes from a simple image: if you frighten someone or something, they move away from you because they are afraid. That's why it means 'to make someone or something go away by making them feel afraid'.