frightening
- 01 B1 Intermediate
making you feel afraid or nervous.
causing fear or apprehension. This is a gradable adjective that describes the source of the fear.
Simple“It was frightening to be alone in the dark house during the storm.”
In context“The sudden drop in the company's stock price was frightening for the small investors who had put their life savings into the venture.”
PitfallI was very frightening when I saw the snake. I was very frightened when I saw the snake.Use 'frightening' for the thing that causes fear and 'frightened' for how you feel.
SynonymsAntonyms - 02 C1 Advanced
used to describe something that is very bad, shocking, or extreme.
used figuratively to emphasize the unpleasantness, intensity, or poor quality of something.
Simple“The traffic in the city center this morning was absolutely frightening.”
In context“The cost of maintaining such an ancient building is frightening, even before you consider the price of modern safety upgrades.”
frightening vs frightened — Frightened describes the person feeling the emotion, while frightening describes the thing that causes the emotion.
From frighten + -ing.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.