How to Use frightening in a Sentence

frightening

adjective
Definition of frighteningnext
Synonyms for frighteningnext
  • Their teeth might be the most frightening thing of all.
    — Forrest Brown, CNN, 12 Apr. 2023
  • The void left by the decline of the nation-state is frightening.
    — Joe Mathews, The Mercury News, 5 Oct. 2024
  • The first and, sometimes most frightening, step is to jump in.
    — Rayna Reid Rayford, Essence, 13 Jan. 2023
  • During the rough flight, Lance couldn't shake the frightening thought of the plane crashing.
    — Kyle J. Russell, USA TODAY, 24 July 2024
  • There’s no need to fret if these price jumps look a bit frightening.
    — Abby Wilson, Better Homes & Gardens, 27 Dec. 2023
  • Read on to check out EW's picks for Craven's 15 most frightening films.
    — Will Harris, EW.com, 26 Oct. 2022
  • What’s frightening, Thorne said, is that the state could allow the lessons of Lahaina to fade.
    — Darryl Fears, Allyson Chiu and Elahe Izadi, Anchorage Daily News, 4 Sep. 2023
  • The frightening thing is that some are falling for it, because, at least in the case of Combs, the AI voice is just that good.
    — Joseph Hudak, Rolling Stone, 5 July 2023
  • The most frightening part is how a program like San Diego State tries to trade punches with the big boys.
    — Bryce Miller, San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 Dec. 2023
  • The outline of a frightening head seems to spew bodies into the sea.
    — Washington Post, 27 July 2023
  • Was this a frightening scene of a landmark imperiled or just a trick of the eye?
    — David Wharton, Los Angeles Times, 21 Aug. 2023
  • The book opens with a flight through a pretty frightening lightning storm.
    — Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 9 Oct. 2024
  • Most frightening is the drug that seems to be everywhere these days.
    — From Usa Today Network and Wire Reports, USA TODAY, 3 Nov. 2022
  • After the movie ended, Amma, my mom, shared that her move to the U.S. was frightening in the ways depicted in the movie.
    — Deepa Purushothaman, Fortune, 7 May 2024
  • All the while, there are glimpses of frightening tech developments with big roles to play in the story.
    — Shania Russell, EW.com, 31 May 2023
  • The first-place Denver Nuggets are about as frightening as an old broomstick.
    — Bruce Jenkins, San Francisco Chronicle, 24 Mar. 2023
  • The colossal monster proved to be a little frightening for 9-year-old Woodard on set.
    — Katcy Stephan, Variety, 10 Feb. 2023
  • That's what's kind of frightening about the concussion thing.
    — Anna Lazarus Caplan, Peoplemag, 24 Sep. 2024
  • This is the most frightening demonstration of the day, one staged by the Dawn Project on a street blocked off to regular traffic.
    — Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 19 Aug. 2024
  • The mother did her best and fended for herself through a frightening episode.
    — Sahaj Kaur Kohli, Washington Post, 22 June 2023
  • However, the outcome of the game was as frightening as a haunted house.
    — David Wysong, The Enquirer, 15 Jan. 2023
  • And the results, published just in time for fall baking, are frightening.
    — Meghan Overdeep, Southern Living, 13 Sep. 2024
  • The performances are fearless here, and made frightening by the cold remove that Haneke keeps from them.
    — Indiewire Staff, IndieWire, 12 Aug. 2024
  • The updates were scarce, which only made the matter more frightening.
    — Ben Volin, BostonGlobe.com, 2 Jan. 2023
  • Others are more broad but even more frightening, like war and climate change.
    — Jason Fanelli, Rolling Stone, 18 Oct. 2024
  • But the scene on Saturday night in Netanya, 20 miles north of Tel Aviv, was a frightening glimpse of what could be coming.
    — Loveday Morris, Washington Post, 30 Oct. 2023
  • Much of the film rests on a razor’s edge between funny and frightening, which makes its twists and turns all the more surprising.
    — EW.com, 2 June 2024
  • Over the weekend, one of his performances took a frightening turn.
    — Jasmine Washington, Seventeen, 10 July 2023
  • Adding to the new normal is the fact that hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians who left in the frightening early days have returned home.
    — Marcel Gascón Barberá, Sun Sentinel, 5 Apr. 2023
  • But one of the highlights of the episode is delightful rather than frightening: in keeping with the series’ general spirit of 1980s nostalgia, the boys adorably dress as the Ghostbusters for Halloween.
    — Cady Lang, TIME, 21 Oct. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'frightening.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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