[VERB 动词]使惊恐；使害怕；吓唬 If something or someone frightens you, they cause you to suddenly feel afraid, anxious, or nervous.
[V n]
He knew that Soli was trying to frighten him, so he smiled to hide his fear...
他知道索利是想吓唬他，所以他挤出笑容掩饰自己的恐惧。
Most children are frightened by the sight of blood.
大多数孩子见到血就害怕。
2
[PHRASE 短语]使吓得魂飞魄散；使吓破了胆 If something frightens the life out of you, frightens the wits out of you, or frightens you out of your wits, it causes you to feel suddenly afraid or gives you a very unpleasant shock.
[V inflects]
[emphasis]
Fairground rides are intended to frighten the life out of you.
露天游乐场的飞车就是想把人吓丢了魂儿。
3
[PHRASAL VERB 短语动词]吓跑；吓走；把…吓得躲远 If you frighten away a person or animal or frighten them off, you make them afraid so that they run away or stay some distance away from you.
[V P n (not pron)]
[V n P]
The fishermen said the company's seismic survey was frightening away fish...
渔民们说这家公司进行的地震勘测把鱼都吓跑了。
He fired into the air, hoping that the noise would frighten them off.
他向空中开枪，希望枪声能把它们吓走。
4
[PHRASAL VERB 短语动词]使吓得不敢打交道(或参与) To frighten someone away or frighten them off means to make them nervous so that they decide not to become involved with a particular person or activity.
[V n P]
[V P n (not pron)]
Building society repossessions have frightened buyers off...
建屋互助协会收回未偿清房贷的住房，这吓退了很多买家。
The government is convinced that the bombers want to frighten away foreign investors.
政府确信炸弹袭击者的目的是想吓跑外国投资者。
5
[PHRASAL VERB 短语动词]吓得…做… If you frighten someone into doing something they would not normally do, you make them do it by making them afraid not to do it.
[V n P -ing/n]
He was a bully. He tried to frighten people into doing what he wanted.
他恃强欺弱，总是想吓得人们按他的意愿做事。
相关词组：
frighten away
frighten into
frighten off
Oxford
fright·en★/ˈfraɪtn; NAmEˈfraɪtn/verb[transitive , intransitive ]frighten(sb) |frightensb to do sth to make sb suddenly feel afraid 使惊吓；使惊恐◆Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you.对不起，我没有吓唬你的意思。◆She's not easily frightened.她不是轻易吓倒的。◆She doesn't frighten easily(= it is not easy to make her afraid).她不是轻易吓倒的。IDIOMsee
daylights
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death
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life
PHRASAL VERBSˌfrighten sb/sth↔aˈway/ˈoff | ˌfrighten sb/sth aˈway from sth1★to make a person or an animal go away by making them feel afraid 把…吓走（或吓跑）◆He threatened the intruders with a gun and frightened them off.他用枪威胁闯入者，把他们吓跑了。2★to make sb afraid or nervous so that they no longer want to do sth 把…吓得不敢（做某事）◆The high prices have frightened off many customers.高价使许多顾客却步。ˈfrighten sb into sth/into doing sthto make sb do sth by making them afraid 把…吓得做某事SYNONYMS 同义词辨析frightenscare ◆alarm ◆terrify These words all mean to make sb afraid. 以上各词均含使害怕、使恐惧之意。■frightento make sb feel afraid, often suddenly 指（常为突如其来地）使惊吓、使惊恐：◆He brought out a gun and frightened them off.他掏出一把枪，把他们吓跑了。■scareto make sb feel afraid 指使害怕、使恐惧：◆They managed to scare the bears away.他们设法把那些熊吓跑了。■alarmto make sb anxious or afraid 指使惊恐、使害怕、使担心：◆It alarms me that nobody takes this problem seriously.谁都不认真对待这个问题，我非常担心。NOTEAlarmis used when sb has a feeling that sth unpleasant or dangerous might happen in the future; the feeling is often more one of worry than actual fear. *alarm 指令人担心不好的事情或危险可能发生，多为忧虑而非真的害怕。 ■terrifyto make sb feel extremely afraid 指使恐惧、使十分害怕、使惊吓：◆Flying terrified her.她害怕坐飞机。frighten or scare? 用 frighten 还是 scare？Scareis slightly more informal than frighten.*scare 较 frighten 稍非正式。 PATTERNS◆to frighten/scare sb/sth away / away ◆to frighten/scare/terrify sb intodoing sth ◆Itfrightens/scares/alarms/terrifies me that…◆Itfrightens/scares/alarms/terrifies me tothink, see, etc. frightenfrightensfrightenedfrighteningfright·en/ˈfraɪtn; NAmEˈfraɪtn/
to make someone feel afraidSYN scare: Don’t stand so near the edge! You’re frightening me. She was frightened by the anger in his eyes. Computers used to frighten me, but not now.frighten somebody to death/frighten the life out of somebody (=make someone feel extremely afraid) He drove at a speed which frightened Lara to death.THESAURUSfrighten to make someone feel afraid: · The thought of being in court frightened him.scare especially spoken to frighten someone. Scare is less formal than frighten, and is the usual word to use in everyday English: · He was driving fast just to scare us.· It scared him to think that his mother might never recover.terrify to make someone feel extremely frightened: · The idea of going down into the caves terrified her.· Robbers terrified bank staff by threatening them at gunpoint.give somebody a fright to make someone suddenly feel frightened in a way that makes their heart beat more quickly: · It gave me a terrible fright when I found him unconscious on the floor.give somebody the creeps if a person or place gives you the creeps, they make you feel slightly frightened because they are strange: · This house gives me the creeps.startle to frighten someone. Used when you suddenly see someone and did not know they were there, or when you suddenly hear something: · I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.· The noise startled him, and he dropped his glass on the floor.alarm to make someone feel frightened and worried that something bad might happen: · I didn’t want to alarm her by calling in the middle of the night.intimidate to deliberately frighten someone, especially so that they will do what you want: · Many of the gangs were using dogs to intimidate people.frighten away phrasal verbto make a person or animal go away by making them feel afraid: Terrorist activity in the area has frightened most tourists away.frighten into phrasal verbto force someone to do something by making them afraidfrighten somebody into doing something He frightened me into staying silent.frighten off phrasal verbto make a person or animal so nervous or afraid that they go away or do not do something they were going to do: The investors were frightened off by the company’s low profits that year.