[syn: fearful, frightful]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Frightful \Fright"ful\, a.
1. Full of fright; affrighted; frightened. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
See how the frightful herds run from the wood. --W.
Browne.
[1913 Webster]
2. Full of that which causes fright; exciting alarm;
impressing terror; shocking; as, a frightful chasm, or
tempest; a frightful appearance.
Syn: Terrible; dreadful; alarming; fearful; terrific; awful;
horrid; horrible; shocking.
Usage: Frightful, Dreadful, Awful. These words all
express fear. In frightful, it is a sudden emotion; in
dreadful, it is deeper and more prolonged; in awful,
the fear is mingled with the emotion of awe, which
subdues us before the presence of some invisible
power. An accident may be frightful; the approach of
death is dreadful to most men; the convulsions of the
earthquake are awful.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
frightful
adj 1: provoking horror; "an atrocious automobile accident"; "a
frightful crime of decapitation"; "an alarming, even
horrifying, picture"; "war is beyond all words horrible"-
Winston Churchill; "an ugly wound" [syn: atrocious,
frightful, horrifying, horrible, ugly]
2: extreme in degree or extent or amount or impact; "in a
frightful hurry"; "spent a frightful amount of money" [syn:
frightful, terrible, awful, tremendous]
3: extremely distressing; "fearful slum conditions"; "a
frightful mistake" [syn: fearful, frightful]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
60 Moby Thesaurus words for "frightful":
abhorrent, abominable, alarming, appalling, atrocious, awful,
awing, chilling, daunting, deadly, deterrent, deterring,
disagreeable, disconcerting, discouraging, disheartening,
dismaying, disquieting, dreadful, fear-inspiring, fearful,
fearsome, forbidding, formidable, foul, frightening, ghastly,
grisly, gruesome, hideous, horrendous, horrible, horrid, horrific,
horrifying, howling, loathsome, lurid, macabre, nasty, nauseating,
nauseous, offensive, overawing, repelling, repugnant, repulsive,
revolting, rousing, scaring, scary, shocking, startling, terrible,
terrific, thumping, ugly, unspeakable, vile, whacking