frightful

English

Alternative forms

• frightfull (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English frightful (“afraid”), from Old English forhtful (“fainthearted, timorous”). Equivalent to fright +‎ -ful.

Pronunciation

• enPR: frīt′fəl, IPA^(key): /ˈfɹaɪtfəl/
• Hyphenation: fright‧ful

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

frightful (comparative more frightful, superlative most frightful)

1. (obsolete) Full of fright, whether
   1. Afraid, frightened.
      • c. 1250, Genesis and Exodus, line 3459:

        Ðis frigtful ðus a-biden,
        Quiles ðis daiȝes for ben gliden.

   2. Timid, fearful, easily frightened.
      • 1613, William Browne, Britannia's Pastorals:

        See how the frightful herds run from the wood.

2. Full of something causing fright, whether
   1. Genuinely horrific, awful, or alarming.
   2. (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.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:frightening
• See Thesaurus:bad

Derived terms

• frightfully

Translations

full of fright

• Bulgarian: уплашен (bg) (uplašen)
• French: effrayant (fr)
• Galician: aterrador m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: assustador (pt)
• Turkish: korkulu (tr), korku dolu

full of that which causes fright

• Bulgarian: страшен (bg) (strašen), ужасен (bg) (užasen)
• Greek:

  Ancient: δασπλῆτις (dasplêtis)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: metūculōsus
• Spanish: temible (es)
• Turkish: dehşet (tr), korkunç (tr)

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

• Polish: okropny (pl), straszny (pl) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Adverb

frightful (comparative more frightful, superlative most frightful)

1. (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.

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Middle English

Alternative forms

• frigtful

Etymology

From Old English forhtful; equivalent to fright +‎ -ful.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfrixtˌful/

Adjective

frightful

1. (rare) afraid, frightened

Descendants

• English: frightful

References

• “frightful (adj.)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-05.