affright

American  

[uh-frahyt] / əˈfraɪt /

verb (used with object)

1. to frighten.

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noun

1. sudden fear or terror; fright.

2. a source of terror.

3. the act of terrifying.

affright British  

/ əˈfraɪt /

verb

1. (tr) to frighten

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noun

1. a sudden terror

Other Word Forms

• self-affrighted adjective
• unaffrighted adjective
• unaffrightedly adverb

Etymology

Origin of affright

before 1000; Middle English afrighten, Old English āfyrhtan, equivalent to ā- a- ³ + fyrhtan to fright

Example Sentences

The vivid image of a theatre as a wooden O comes from the prologue to Henry V: "Can this Cock-Pit hold within this Woodden O, the very Caskes that did affright the Ayre at Agincourt?"

From The Guardian • Jun. 5, 2012

The words on her bookmark are perhaps her most memorable: Let nothing disturb thee, Let nothing affright thee.

From Time Magazine Archive

The sound of its bell, to paraphrase Poe, was "In the startled ear of night/ How it screamed out its affright!"

From Time Magazine Archive

I like it not, and I have grave doubts; but I fear to affright her, and so I am silent of it.

From "Dracula" by Bram Stoker

Unthinkingly, he pulled a straggling root from the earth; and on the instant, heard, with affright, a stifled moan underground, which winded downwards in doleful tones, and died plaintively away in the deep distance.

From Translations from the German (Vol 3 of 3) Tales by Musaeus, Tieck, Richter by Carlyle, Thomas