Definition of: fright

(frīt) noun
1. Sudden and violent alarm or fear.
2. Colloq. Anything ugly, ridiculous, or shocking in appearance, producing aversion or alarm.
—v.t. Poetic To frighten. [OE fryhto] Synonyms (noun): affright, dismay, dread, fear, horror, panic, terror. Affright, fright, and terror are always sudden, and in actual presence of that which is terrible; fear may be controlled by force of will; fright and terror overwhelm the will; terror paralyzes; fright may cause wild or desperate action. Fright is largely a matter of the nerves; fear of the intellect and the imagination; terror of all the faculties, bodily and mental. Panic is a sudden fear or fright, affecting numbers at once; vast armies or crowded audiences are liable to panic upon slight occasion. In a like sense we speak of a financial panic. Compare ALARM, FEAR.