Affright
adj, noun, verb ·Uncommon ·College level
Definitions
- 1 Great fear, terror, fright. archaic, countable, uncountable
"No one for a moment dreamed of the possible occurrence of any thing in the course of a few hours which would fill every mind with horror, and cause even the dark-hearted Martina to tremble with affright."
- 2 an overwhelming feeling of fear and anxiety wordnet
- 1 To inspire fright in; to frighten, to terrify. archaic, transitive
"VVith ſcoffes and ſcornes, and contumelious taunts, / In open Market-place produc't they me, / To be a publique ſpectacle to all: / Here, ſayd they, is the Terror of the French, / The Scar-Crovv that affrights our Children ſo."
- 2 cause fear in wordnet
- 1 afraid; terrified; frightened
"So that thou shalt not need I say, to feare or be affright, of all the shafts that Hie by day, nor terrours of the night."
Example
More examples"Meanwhile Chloe, who had remained in charge of the herds, fled in affright to the Grotto of the Nymphs, and thither the invaders pursued her."
Etymology
From Middle English afrighten, from Old English āfyrhtan, equivalent to a- + fright.
From Middle English afright, from Old English āfyrht (“terrified; afraid”), past participle of āfyrhtan (“to terrify; make afraid”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.