frightening

English

Etymology

From frighten +‎ -ing.

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪtnɪŋ
• Hyphenation: fright‧en‧ing

Adjective

frightening (comparative more frightening, superlative most frightening)

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

   Riding the rollercoaster was a frightening experience.

   • 1966, “Cool McCool (theme song)”, Bernie Green (music) (Cool McCool (television series)), performed by Bob McFadden:

     The Owl is flying high, frightening to the eye.
     The Rattler is nearby, Cool is on the fly.
     Danger is his business.

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

Synonyms

• Thesaurus:frightening

Derived terms

• frighteningly
• nonfrightening
• unfrightening

Translations

scary

• Arabic: مُجَفِّل (mujaffil), مُخِيف (muḵīf), مُرْعِب (murʕib)

  Gulf Arabic: يخوف impf (yḵwwif) (verb)

• 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: hirvittävä (fi), pelottava (fi), karmiva (fi), kauhea (fi)
• French: effrayant (fr)
• Galician: aterrecedor (gl)
• Georgian: შემაშინებელი (šemašinebeli), ამაღელვებელი (amaɣelvebeli), დამზაფრავი (damzapravi)
• German: fürchterlich (de), schreckerregend
• Gothic: 𐌰𐌲𐌹𐍃𐌻𐌴𐌹𐌺𐍃 (agisleiks)
• Greek: τρομακτικός (el) m (tromaktikós), φοβιστικός m (fovistikós)

  Ancient: φοβερός (phoberós), δεινός (deinós)

• Hindi: भुतहा (bhuthā)
• Hungarian: félelmetes (hu)
• Irish: scanrúil, scéiniúil
• Italian: spaventoso (it)
• Japanese: 恐い (ja) (こわい, kowai), 怖い (ja) (こわい, kowai)
• Korean: 무섭다 (ko) (museopda), 두렵다 (ko) (duryeopda)
• Latin: terribilis, metūculōsus
• Middle Korean: 므ᅀᅴ〮엽다〮 (mùzúyyèptá), 저프다〮 (cèphùtá), 두립〮다〮 (twùlíptá)
• Persian: سهمناک (fa) (sahmnâk)
• Plautdietsch: schrakjlich
• Polish: przerażający (pl) m
• Portuguese: assustador (pt)
• Romanian: înfricoșător (ro), înspăimântător (ro)
• Russian: пуга́ющий (ru) (pugájuščij)
• Sanskrit: भीम (sa) (bhīma), भीषण (sa) (bhīṣaṇa), घोर (sa) (ghora)
• Scottish Gaelic: eagalach
• Serbo-Croatian: strahovit (sh)
• 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)
• Polish: okropny (pl), straszny (pl) m
• Russian: стра́шный (ru) (strášnyj), ужа́сный (ru) (užásnyj)
• Spanish: terrible (es)

Verb

frightening

1. present participle and gerund of frighten

   The scientist was frightening the timid children.