fright.

A sudden experience of fear, often following an unexpected threat.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• give someone a fright
• a terrible fright
• recover from a fright

On the page

The falling ladder gave the children a fright.

After the fright, she laughed so hard that she had to sit down.

He remembered the dog’s charge as his first real fright.

Usage notes

Primary category: fear. More abrupt than anxiety; a fright may pass quickly and does not necessarily reach the intensity of terror. Count noun. Count plural: frights. Derived family (not additional inflections or records): frighten; frightened.