sudden intense fear or alarm a sudden alarming shock a horrifying, grotesque, or ludicrous person or thing: she looks a fright in that hat - take fright ⇒
to become frightened
- a poetic word for frighten
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025
fright /fraɪt/USA pronunciation
n.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025- sudden fear: [uncountable]a feeling of fright.[countable* usually singular]You gave me quite a fright.
- something shocking, grotesque, or ridiculous in appearance:[countable]My hair is a fright.
- fright is a noun, frightful, frightening are adjectives, frighten is a verb:You gave me quite a fright! It was a frightful sight. It was a frightening movie. You frightened me.
fright
(frīt),USA pronunciation n.
v.t.
- sudden and extreme fear;
a sudden terror. - a person or thing of shocking, grotesque, or ridiculous appearance.
v.t.
- to frighten.
- bef 900; Middle English; Old English frytu, fyrhto; akin to German Furcht
- 1.See corresponding entry in Unabridged dismay, consternation, alarm. See terror.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
'fright' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
affright
- aghast
- alarm
- bloodcurdler
- bugbear
- clutch
- consternation
- curl
- dead
- fear
- fray
- freeze
- fright wig
- frighten
- frightened
- frightful
- funk
- gastness
- hairy
- hideous
- jitter
- mike fright
- rise
- scare
- scary
- self-frighted
- shiver
- shock
- skrik
- stage fright
- start
- tail
- terror
- trepidation
- turn
- well-frightened
- willies
- yell
- yipe