frightful

• frightfull (archaic)

From Middle English frightful (“afraid”), from Old English forhtfull (“fainthearted, timorous”). Equivalent to fright +‎ -ful.

• enPR: frīt′fəl, IPA^(key): /ˈfɹaɪtfəl/
• Hyphenation: fright‧ful

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frightful (comparative more frightful, superlative most frightful)

1. (obsolete) Full of fright, whether
   1. Afraid, frightened.
      • c. 1250, Genesis and Exodus, line 3459:

        Ðis frigtful ðus a-biden,
        Quiles ðis daiȝes for ben gliden.

   2. Timid, fearful, easily frightened.
      • 1613, William Browne, Britannia's Pastorals:

        See how the frightful herds run from the wood.

2. Full of something causing fright, whether
   1. Genuinely horrific, awful, or alarming.
   2. (hyperbolic) Unpleasant, dreadful, awful (also used as an intensifier).
      • 1990, House of Cards, season 1, episode 1:

        Francis Urquhart: What a frightful little man. Where do they find them these days?
        Tim Stamper: God knows. If I had a dog like that, I'd shoot it.
        Francis Urquhart: Well, yes. Quite.

• See Thesaurus:frightening
• See Thesaurus:bad

frightful (comparative more frightful, superlative most frightful)

1. (dialect) Frightfully; very.
   • 1926, Charles Edward Montague, Rough Justice, page 87:

     You had a lot of frightful good quotes. You must know half the books that there are.

   • 1942, Philip Gibbs, The Long Alert, page 200:

     It's a frightful long time, and I don't get many letters from him.

   • 2018, Abbie Williams, Way Back:

     But we ain't found a soul what knows you, honey-love, I am so frightful sorry to say.

• Webster's, "frightful", 1913.
• Oxford English Dictionary, "frightful, adj.", 1898.

• frigtful

From Old English forhtful; equivalent to fright +‎ -ful.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfrixtˌful/

frightful

1. (rare) afraid, frightened

• English: frightful

• “frightful, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-05.