(v. t.) To disturb with fear; to throw into a state of alarm or fright; to affright; to terrify.
Example Sentences:
(1) A former Labour minister, Nicholas Brown, said the public were frightened they "were going to be spied on" and that "illegally obtained" information would find its way to the public domain.
(2) The sound of the ambulance frightened us, especially us children, and panic gripped the entire community: people believe that whoever is taken into the ambulance to the hospital will die – you so often don’t see them again.
(3) Can somebody who is not a billionaire, who stands for working families, actually win an election into which billionaires are pouring millions of dollars?” Naming prominent and controversial rightwing donors, he said: “It is not just Hillary, it is the Koch brothers, it is Sheldon Adelson.” Stephanopoulos seized the moment, asking: “Are you lumping her in with them?” Choosing to refer to the 2010 supreme court decision that removed limits on corporate political donations, rather than address the question directly, Sanders replied: “What I am saying is that I get very frightened about the future of American democracy when this becomes a battle between billionaires.
(4) Subjective measures of anxiety, frightening cognitions and body sensations were obtained across the phases.
(5) There is no support in the system and it’s a very frightening and distressing situation to be in.
(6) "The problem in the community is that the elderly who live on their own on ground floors are frightened to open the windows because of vandalism and burglary," he says.
(7) You say that she taught you not to feel frightened.
(8) The facts speak for themselves but it was Mayweather’s refusal to address the allegations that was particularly frightening.
(9) Despite the warnings, new protesters of all ages continued to arrive in the camp, insisting they would not be frightened away.
(10) "I heard five explosions during the protest this evening and I was frightened - I just wanted to get out of there.
(11) I briefly consider logging into a relative’s AOL account and entering the keywords “the sadness of constantly frightened old white people”, but that seems too general.
(12) Regardless of fringe rucks, these protests are more likely to lay the ground for wider public and industrial campaigns than frighten them off.
(13) Ukraine frightened people here,” says one diplomatic source in Minsk.
(14) This is the most frightening picture you will ever see.
(15) Actually, I had betrayed the seriousness of what had happened, because my story ignored the fact that I had been genuinely frightened and in a degree of danger during the heckling.
(16) Narcolepsy, with its specific symptomatology is an intriguing but often frightening disease.
(17) The comedian Stephen Mangan called Cameron’s warning “panicky” and “daft”, while another comedian, Vikki Stone, shared a picture of herself hiding in the shed with a colander on her head and said: “Dear David Cameron I’m frightened.
(18) Of those who did not read the notes, only four (17%) were frightened by what they might read, while others stated that they did not have their glasses, could not read, did not think it was their place, thought the notes would not be interesting, or did not understand the policy.
(19) Sonia Zambakides, head of Save the Children's Somalia emergency response, added: "While there has been an improvement in these areas thanks to the international aid effort, children are still dying at a frightening rate across Somalia.
(20) The reality of the plan you went along with and helped execute was that your children were to be frightened out of sleep in the middle of the night and rescued by their father from a fire that should never have been started.
Spook
Definition:
(n.) A spirit; a ghost; an apparition; a hobgoblin.
(n.) The chimaera.
Example Sentences:
(1) Top Gear, Robin Hood, Doctor Who, Primeval and Spooks were the company's top five highest-grossing shows sold internationally.
(2) Turning on the community suggests they are spooked by the growing support to protect our national treasures.
(3) But political corruption and the implacable opposition of the spooks and military to progressive change are the traditional forms of anti-democratic politics, in Britain, as elsewhere.
(4) Two witnesses said they thought the gorilla was trying to protect the boy at first, before getting spooked by the screams of onlookers.
(5) Backing the spooks against a left-leaning newspaper is, for a Tory prime minister, a no-brainer.
(6) Investors were also spooked by a chequered sales performance as breakneck growth stuttered at home and abroad.
(7) In the latest CIA coup, America's leading spooks have sent the Twittersphere into a frenzy with their chucklesome debut on social media: "We can neither confirm nor deny that this is our first tweet."
(8) She is, therefore, basically the Ruth Evershed (from Spooks) of the ancient world.
(9) The 'judge-led inquiry' that never was is shut down and investigating kidnap and torture in freedom's name will be left to a watchdog that never barks and which exonerated the spooks six years ago."
(10) If the only black people they see are the "looky looky" men on the beach selling fake watches then the idea of a black holidaymaker might spook them.
(11) "She has reinvented family drama in Doctor Who, Robin Hood and Merlin and launched acclaimed contemporary series such as Spooks and Life on Mars as well as Cranford.
(12) Any list of the decade's most memorable shows would be dominated by series that began in its early years: The Office, Spooks, Peep Show, The Thick of It, Shameless.
(13) Greece spooked investors for a third day running on Thursday as the Athens stock exchange fell 7.35% amid fears over the debt-stricken country’s future in the eurozone.
(14) If the desertion of some of their juniors has spooked Egypt's generals, they are being careful not to show it.
(15) In the technology world, a still-young and rapidly expanding business posting losses isn't unusual, and it's unlikely to spook many investors.
(16) The Daily Mail and the Spectator apparently don't care much if spooks routinely capture and comb all our emails and phone traffic.
(17) After our daughter left, my wife would sometimes go to her room – pictures of Spooks, etc – and cry.
(18) He is said to have entered the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit premises on 3 April and walked away on 5 April, spooked by the discovery that the fire escape door they had previously used had been locked in the interim.
(19) As the debate in ancient Westminster Hall wound on and the libertarians (security must not undermine basic freedoms) proved the better-briefed side, the spook faction got a bit dirty, as is their patriotic duty.
(20) That’s how Mussolini got in, that’s how Hitler got in: they took advantage of a situation, a problem perhaps, which humanity was going through at the time, after an economic crisis.” Peña Nieto’s pronouncements are the most forceful so far against Trump, whose rise to the top of the Republican primary races has spooked Mexicans of all social strata.