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Definition of Frightful
1. Adjective. Provoking horror. "An ugly wound"
Similar to: Alarming
Derivative terms: Frightfulness
2. Adjective. Extreme in degree or extent or amount or impact. "Spent a frightful amount of money"
Language type: Colloquialism
Similar to: Extraordinary
Derivative terms: Terribleness
3. Adjective. Extremely distressing. "A frightful mistake"
Definition of Frightful
1. a. Full of fright; affrighted; frightened.
Definition of Frightful
1. Adjective. (obsolete) : Full of fright; affrighted; frightened. ¹
2. Adjective. Full of that which causes fright; exciting alarm; impressing terror; shocking; as, a frightful chasm, or tempest; a frightful appearance. ¹
3. Adjective. (non-gloss definition Used as an intensifier) ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Frightful
1. [adj]
Medical Definition of Frightful
1. 1. Full of fright; affrighted; frightened. "See how the frightful herds run from the wood." (W. Browne) 2. Full of that which causes fright; exciting alarm; impressing terror; shocking; as, a frightful chasm, or tempest; a frightful appearance. Synonym: Terrible, dreadful, alarming, fearful, terrific, awful, horrid, horrible, shocking. Frightful, Dreadful, Awful. These words all express fear. In frightful, it is a sudden emotion; in dreadful, it is deeper and more prolonged; in awful, the fear is mingled with the emotion of awe, which subdues us before the presence of some invisible power. An accident may be frightful; the approach of death is dreadful to most men; the convulsions of the earthquake are awful. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)
Lexicographical Neighbors of Frightful
Literary usage of Frightful
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine (1850)
"He said further, — " When two towers are built between Sondern and Werl, then
shall a frightful war soon break out. The towers are now there, ..."
2. The Living Age by Making of America Project, Eliakim Littell, Robert S. Littell (1868)
"He might naturally be slow to believe frightful imputa:ions thrown by writers
... frightful imputations thrown by these habitual liars on a statesman and ..."
3. Roughing It by Mark Twain (2001)
"c- CONCERNING A Frightful ASSASSINATION THAT WAS NEVER CONSUMMATED. [IF ever
there was a harmless man, it is Conrad Wiegand, of Gold Hill, Nevada. ..."
4. The Voyages and Explorations of Samuel de Champlain, 1604-1616 by Samuel de Champlain (1902)
"... which many savages have assured me was true; that is, that near the Bay of
Heat, toward the south, there is an island where a frightful monster makes ..."
5. The Planter: Or, Thirteen Years in the South by David Brown (1853)
"What frightful results ? Are the negroes starving to death, like the poor people
of Ireland and Scotland ? and even of England and Germany ? ..."
6. The life and ... adventures of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (1885)
"From this city we had a frightful desert, which held us three- and-twenty days'
march. We furnished ourselves with some tents here, for the better ..."
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