frighten
part of speech
verb (frighten, frightens, frightened, frightening)
meaning for a pupil
1) To frighten means to make someone feel scared. tree →
2) To frighten away or off means to scare an animal or person so they go away. tree →
sense in the lessons
In feelings lessons, children learn what to do when something frightens them: breathe, talk to an adult, remember fears are normal. In nature, shouting can frighten birds and animals, and a frightened animal may bite or run. In stories, ghosts and storms frighten characters. Phrases: frighten away, frighten off, frightened of, frighten to death.
examples
- And thy carcasses shall be food unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and there shall be none to frighten them away. (Torah DEU.28.26, JPS 1917) tree →
- And the carcasses of this people shall be food for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall frighten them away. (Prophets JER.7.33, JPS 1917) tree →
- The thunder frightened the little dog. tree →
- Don't run at the ducks; you'll frighten them. tree →
- Loud noises frighten our baby. tree →
- I was frightened of the dark when I was little. tree →
- The scarecrow frightens birds away from the corn. tree →
- The spooky story frightened everyone. tree →
- A frightened cat may scratch, so leave it alone. tree →
- You frightened me, creeping up like that! tree →
- "You frighten me," said the rose--tree. tree →
note
Frighten = make scared; frightened = feeling scared (frightened of something); frightening = causing fear. «Scare» is the everyday word with the same meaning. The gh is silent: «FRY-ten».
In the corpora
- If a grown-up's anger ever makes you frightened for your safety, tell another trusted adult.
- Tapping on glass, shouting and flash photos frighten animals, which cannot leave as easily as visitors can.
- Videos of tickled pet lorises raising their arms are not cute: the loris is frightened and getting ready to bite.
- It usually means a happy cat, but cats also purr when they are hurt or frightened.
- The frightened old horse rears and backs, and drags the cart into the deep ditch: crash!
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «frighten» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.