From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Frightful \Fright"ful\, adjective
1. Full of fright; affrighted; frightened. [Obs.]
See how the frightful herds run from the wood. --W. Browne.
2. Full of that which causes fright; exciting alarm; impressing terror; shocking; as, a frightful chasm, or tempest; a frightful appearance.
Syn: Terrible; dreadful; alarming; fearful; terrific; awful; horrid; horrible; shocking.
Usage: {Frightful}, {Dreadful}, {Awful}. These words all express fear. In frightful, it is a sudden emotion; in dreadful, it is deeper and more prolonged; in awful, the fear is mingled with the emotion of awe, which subdues us before the presence of some invisible power. An accident may be frightful; the approach of death is dreadful to most men; the convulsions of the earthquake are awful.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
adjective
1: provoking horror; "an atrocious automobile accident"; "a frightful crime of decapitation"; "an alarming, even horrifying, picture"; "war is beyond all words horrible"- Winston Churchill; "an ugly wound" [syn: {atrocious}, {horrifying}, {horrible}, {ugly}]
2: extreme in degree; "in a frightful hurry"; "spent a frightful amount of money"
3: extremely distressing; "fearful slum conditions"; "a frightful mistake"; "suffered terrible thirst" [syn: {fearful}, {terrible}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
60 Moby Thesaurus words for "frightful": abhorrent, abominable, alarming, appalling, atrocious, awful, awing, chilling, daunting, deadly, deterrent, deterring, disagreeable, disconcerting, discouraging, disheartening, dismaying, disquieting, dreadful, fear-inspiring, fearful, fearsome, forbidding, formidable, foul, frightening, ghastly, grisly, gruesome, hideous, horrendous, horrible, horrid, horrific, horrifying, howling, loathsome, lurid, macabre, nasty, nauseating, nauseous, offensive, overawing, repelling, repugnant, repulsive, revolting, rousing, scaring, scary, shocking, startling, terrible, terrific, thumping, ugly, unspeakable, vile, whacking
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