Fires are less frightening today than they once were, because more and more houses are built of concrete, and concrete houses do not burn as easily as the old wooden ones.
Source: tatoeba (32793)
Frightening
//ˈfɹaɪtənɪŋ//
Synonyms for "frightening" (105 found)
Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Closest matches (21)
Strong matches (32)
Related words (52)
Adjective(23 words)
frightfulghastlyghostlygrimgrislygruesomehair-curlinghair-raisinghorriblehorridhorrifichorrifyinghorripilatingpulse-poundingscaringscaryshockingskin-crawlingspine-tinglingterrible
Show 3 more words
grimgruesomehair-raisinghairyharrowinghectoringhorrifyingintimidatingintimidationmacabremenacingoverawingpetrifyingpsychological warfarescaringscaryshockingspookystartlingterrifying
Show 4 more words
Adjective(3 words)
Noun(2 words)
Related word relations
OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.
More general
4 entriesMore specific
2 entriesSynonyms
1 entriesRelated terms
4 entriesderived
3 entriesderived from
1 entriesform of
1 entriesrelated to
5 entriessimilar
2 entriesTranslations
67 translations across 34 languages.
Ancient Greek
2 entries- δεινός adj (scary)
- φοβερός adj (scary)
Arabic
4 entries- مُجَفِّل adj (scary)
- مُخِيف adj (scary)
- مُرْعِب adj (scary)
- يخوف adj (scary)
Chinese Cantonese
1 entries- 得人驚 /得人惊 adj (scary)
Chinese Mandarin
2 entries- 可怕 adj (scary)
- 恐怖 adj (scary)
Dutch
4 entries- afschuwelijk adj (awful)
- angstaanjagend adj (scary)
- beangstigend adj (scary)
- ontstellend adj (scary)
Finnish
4 entries- hirvittävä adj (scary)
- karmiva adj (scary)
- kauhea adj (scary)
- kauhea adj (awful)
French
1 entries- effrayant adj (scary)
Galician
2 entries- aterrecedor adj (scary)
- noxento adj (awful)
Georgian
3 entries- ამაღელვებელი adj (scary)
- დამზაფრავი adj (scary)
- შემაშინებელი adj (scary)
German
2 entries- fürchterlich adj (scary)
- schreckerregend adj (scary)
Gothic
1 entries- 𐌰𐌲𐌹𐍃𐌻𐌴𐌹𐌺𐍃 adj (scary)
Greek
3 entries- τρομακτικός adj (scary)
- τρομακτικός adj (awful)
- φοβιστικός adj (scary)
Hindi
1 entries- भुतहा adj (scary)
Hungarian
1 entries- félelmetes adj (scary)
Irish
2 entries- scanrúil adj (scary)
- scéiniúil adj (scary)
Italian
1 entries- spaventoso adj (scary)
Japanese
2 entries- 怖い adj (scary)
- 恐い adj (scary)
Korean
2 entries- 두렵다 adj (scary)
- 무섭다 adj (scary)
Latin
2 entries- metūculōsus adj (scary)
- terribilis adj (scary)
Middle Korean
3 entries- 두립〮다〮 adj (scary)
- 므ᅀᅴ〮엽다〮 adj (scary)
- 저프다〮 adj (scary)
Persian
1 entries- سهمناک adj (scary)
Plautdietsch
1 entries- schrakjlich adj (scary)
Polish
3 entries- okropny adj (awful)
- przerażający adj (scary)
- straszny adj (awful)
Portuguese
1 entries- assustador adj (scary)
Romanian
2 entries- înfricoșător adj (scary)
- înspăimântător adj (scary)
Russian
3 entries- пуга́ющий adj (scary)
- стра́шный adj (awful)
- ужа́сный adj (awful)
Sanskrit
3 entries- घोर adj (scary)
- भीम adj (scary)
- भीषण adj (scary)
Scottish Gaelic
1 entries- eagalach adj (scary)
Serbo-Croatian
1 entries- strahovit adj (scary)
Spanish
3 entries- alarmante adj (scary)
- aterrador adj (scary)
- terrible adj (awful)
Swedish
1 entries- skrämmande adj (scary)
Tibetan
1 entries- ཞེད་སྣང་ཚ་པོ adj (scary)
Turkish
1 entries- korkutucu adj (scary)
Ukrainian
1 entries- жа́хливий adj (scary)
Sample sentences
13 total sentences available.
These poles, called totem poles, are thought to have been worshipped or constructed for frightening enemies.
Source: tatoeba (38293)
It is frightening beyond description.
Source: tatoeba (48695)
But earthquakes are still as frightening as ever.
Source: tatoeba (53524)
Showing 4 of 13 available sentences.
Keep exploring
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.