panic
part of speech
noun (panic, a panic); verb (panic, panics, panicked, panicking)
meaning for a pupil
1) Panic is a sudden, very strong fear that makes people stop thinking clearly and act wildly. tree →
2) To panic means to feel this fear and act without thinking. tree →
3) In a panic can also mean in a great hurry and worry («a last-minute panic»). tree →
sense in the lessons
In everyday life and safety pupils learn «don't panic»: in emergencies (fire, getting lost, water) staying calm and following a plan helps more than running about. Breathing slowly can stop panic. In stories panic builds tension. Phrases: «don't panic», «in a panic», «panic attack», «panic buying», «panic button».
examples
- Don't panic; just walk calmly to the fire exit. tree →
- When she lost her mum in the shop, she started to panic. tree →
- There was panic when the lights went out. tree →
- He panicked and forgot all his lines. tree →
- If you get lost, don't panic: find a safe adult to ask. tree →
- We were in a panic because we had overslept. tree →
- Breathe slowly when you feel panic rising. tree →
- Panic buying emptied the shelves of toilet paper. tree →
- The man who had found the purse fell into a panic. tree →
note
The verb adds k before -ed, -ing and -y: «panicked», «panicking», «panicky». Usually uncountable as a feeling; «a panic» for one episode. In a water emergency, panicking uses up energy; the advice is to float and keep calm.
In the corpora
- The book says carefully that this is NOT panic, but awe.
- Stamp!» The Butterfly flies back to Suleiman in a panic: now his wife will laugh at him for ever.
- Words ending in c add a k to keep the hard sound: panic, panicking; picnic, picnicked.
- Staying calm helps you think; panic does not sharpen your focus.
- For someone with a real fear, like of spiders or snakes, a fake one can cause panic rather than fun.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «panic» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.