Definition of "frighten" []

• To fill with fear; alarm. (verb-transitive)
• To drive or force by arousing fear: The suspect was frightened into confessing. (verb-transitive)
• To become afraid. (verb-intransitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Toy Industry Needs Import Safety Checklist Safety recalls frighten, repulse consumers, JPMorgan analyst warns."
• "The Conservative leader, campaigning in Glenrothes ahead of next month's by-election, also attacked Labour for trying to "frighten" Scots away from independence."
• "You make the mistake of thinking, in your pisspoor posts, that we don; t know jack abotu US or world politics, and that we buy into a paranoid world view where we choose leaders because they 'frighten' other leaders."