frightening

English

Etymology

frighten +‎ -ing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɹaɪtənɪŋ/, /ˈfɹaɪtnɪŋ/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

Adjective

frightening (comparative more frightening, superlative most frightening)

1. Causing fear; of capable of causing fear; scary.

   Riding the rollercoaster was a frightening experience.

2. (figuratively) Awful, terrible, very bad.

Synonyms

• Thesaurus:frightening

Derived terms

• frighteningly

Translations

scary

• Arabic: مُجَفِّل (mujaffil)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 得人驚／得人惊 (dak¹ jan⁴ geng¹)

  Mandarin: 恐怖 (zh) (kǒngbù), 可怕 (zh) (kěpà)

• Dutch: ontstellend (nl), beangstigend (nl), angstaanjagend (nl)
• Finnish: pelottava (fi), karmiva, kauhea (fi)
• French: effrayant (fr)
• Galician: aterrecedor (gl)
• Georgian: შემაშინებელი (šemašinebeli), ამაღელვებელი (amaɣelvebeli), დამზაფრავი (damzapravi)
• German: schreckerregend, sinjagend
• Greek: τρομακτικός (el) m (tromaktikós), φοβιστικός m (fovistikós)

  Ancient: φοβερός (phoberós), δεινός (deinós)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: spaventoso (it)
• Japanese: 恐い (ja) (こわい, kowai), 怖い (ja) (こわい, kowai)
• Latin: metūculōsus
• Polish: przerażający (pl) m
• Portuguese: assustador (pt)
• Russian: пуга́ющий (ru) (pugájuščij)
• Sanskrit: भीम (sa) (bhīma)
• Spanish: alarmante (es), aterrador (es)
• Swedish: skrämmande (sv)
• Tibetan: ཞེད་སྣང་ཚ་པོ (zhed snang tsha po)
• Turkish: korkutucu (tr)
• Ukrainian: жа́хливий (žáxlyvyj)

awful

• Dutch: afschuwelijk (nl)
• Finnish: kauhea (fi)
• Galician: noxento
• Greek: τρομακτικός (el) m (tromaktikós)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Polish: okropny (pl), straszny (pl) m
• Russian: стра́шный (ru) (strášnyj), ужа́сный (ru) (užásnyj)
• Spanish: terrible (es)

Verb

frightening

1. present participle of frighten

   The scientist was frightening the timid children.