frightful
English
Alternative forms
- frightfull (archaic)
Etymology
From Middle English frightful (“afraid”), from Old English forhtful (“fainthearted, timorous”). Equivalent to fright + -ful.
Pronunciation
Adjective
frightful (comparative more frightful, superlative most frightful)
- (obsolete) Full of fright, whether
- Afraid, frightened.
- Timid, fearful, easily frightened.
- 1613, William Browne, Britannia's Pastorals:
- See how the frightful herds run from the wood.
- Full of something causing fright, whether
- Genuinely horrific, awful, or alarming.
- (hyperbolic) Unpleasant, dreadful, awful (also used as an intensifier).
- 1990, House of Cards, Season 1, Episode 1:
- Francis Urquhart: What a frightful little man. Where do they find them these days?
Tim Stamper: God knows. If I had a dog like that, I'd shoot it.
Francis Urquhart: Well, yes. Quite.
- Francis Urquhart: What a frightful little man. Where do they find them these days?
- 1990, House of Cards, Season 1, Episode 1:
Synonyms
- See Thesaurus:frightening
- See Thesaurus:bad
Derived terms
Translations
full of fright
|
full of that which causes fright
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Adverb
frightful (comparative more frightful, superlative most frightful)
- (dialect) Frightfully; very.
- 1926, Charles Edward Montague, Rough Justice, page 87:
- You had a lot of frightful good quotes. You must know half the books that there are.
- 1942, Philip Gibbs, The Long Alert, page 200:
- It's a frightful long time, and I don't get many letters from him.
- 2018, Abbie Williams, Way Back:
- But we ain't found a soul what knows you, honey-love, I am so frightful sorry to say.
References
- Webster's, "frightful", 1913.
- Oxford English Dictionary, "frightful, adj.", 1898.
Middle English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Old English forhtful; equivalent to fright + -ful.
Pronunciation
Adjective
frightful
- (rare) afraid, frightened
Descendants
- English: frightful
References
- “frightful, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-05.
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English adjectives suffixed with -ful
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English terms with quotations
- English hyperboles
- English adverbs
- English dialectal terms
- English adverbs suffixed with -ful
- English intensifiers
- en:Fear
- Middle English terms inherited from Old English
- Middle English terms derived from Old English
- Middle English terms suffixed with -ful
- Middle English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English adjectives
- Middle English terms with rare senses