frighten
- frightened
‘frighten’
If something frightens you, it makes you feel afraid.
Rats and mice don't frighten me.
Frighten is almost always a transitive verb. Don't say that someone ‘frightens’. If you want to say that someone is afraid because of something that has happened or that might happen, you say that they are frightened.
Miriam was too frightened to tell her family what had happened.
He told the children not to be frightened.
➜ For more information, see afraid - frightened
‘frightening’
Don't confuse frightened with frightening. Something that is frightening causes you to feel fear.
It was a very frightening experience.
It is frightening to think what damage could be done.