| / English Dictionary |
FRIGHTFUL
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Provoking horror
Example:
an ugly wound
Synonyms:
atrocious; frightful; horrible; horrifying; ugly
Classified under:
Similar:
alarming (frightening because of an awareness of danger)
Derivation:
frightfulness (the quality of being frightful)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Extremely distressing
Example:
a frightful mistake
Synonyms:
fearful; frightful
Classified under:
Similar:
bad (having undesirable or negative qualities)
Derivation:
frightfulness (the quality of being frightful)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Extreme in degree or extent or amount or impact
Example:
spent a frightful amount of money
Synonyms:
awful; frightful; terrible; tremendous
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
extraordinary (beyond what is ordinary or usual; highly unusual or exceptional or remarkable)
Domain usage:
colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)
Context examples:
Beauchamp struck his opponent a shrewd blow upon the helmet, but was met with so frightful a thrust that he whirled out of his saddle and rolled over and over upon the ground.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I was silent: the things were frightful.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
The spring fashions are partly down; and the hats the most frightful you can imagine.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
There is nothing frightful in such a picture, is there, Miss Price?
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
And then their uncle comes in, and tosses them up to the ceiling in a very frightful way!
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
The cause of his death was a frightful blow upon the head, which had crushed in part of his skull.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Private affliction also is the lot of every man; but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have been enough to shake my very soul.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The robbers, who had been not a little frightened by the opening concert, had now no doubt that some frightful hobgoblin had broken in upon them, and scampered away as fast as they could.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
It was a frightful hour, said he, a frightful day! and he passed his hand across his eyes, as if the remembrance were still too painful, but in a moment, half smiling again, added, The day has produced some effects however; has had some consequences which must be considered as the very reverse of frightful.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
And if it be found that these nurses ever presume to entertain the girls with frightful or foolish stories, or the common follies practised by chambermaids among us, they are publicly whipped thrice about the city, imprisoned for a year, and banished for life to the most desolate part of the country.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
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