MEANING
1. To frighten, alarm, or disturb in an older usage.
2. A violent quarrel or fight, especially a public disturbance involving people.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- affray the household
- affray a passerby
On the page
The chronicler wrote that the apparition affrayed the household.
The warning had affrayed him long before he reached the gate.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- affray
- Past tense
- affrayed
- Past participle
- affrayed
- Present participle
- affraying
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- affray
- Present continuous
- am/is/are affraying
- Present perfect
- have/has affrayed
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been affraying
- Past
- affrayed
- Past continuous
- was/were affraying
- Past perfect
- had affrayed
- Past perfect continuous
- had been affraying
- Future
- will affray
- Future continuous
- will be affraying
- Future perfect
- will have affrayed
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been affraying
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
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Usage notes
Primary category: horror. Forms: affray; affrays; affrayed; affrayed; affraying Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Third-person singular: affrays.
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