Afraid means showing fear. When used by itself, no particular degree of fear is indicated.

• She’s afraid of dogs, even of puppies; We are afraid to walk in the park at night since the woman was killed there.

In most uses, being afraid is personal, and the fear has to do with bodily harm. Afraid is also used in polite discourse to indicate nothing more than mild concern: I’m afraid I’m a bit late for my appointment. Sometimes this use conceals great fear: If our present policy is continued, I am afraid that war is inevitable.

Frightened and scared often suggest fear of bodily harm, but not invariably; both may be used to describe vague fears of unknown source.

• When the lights went out I got scared ; She’s always frightened when she’s alone in the house.

Frightened has a more genteel sound than scared , but both apply strictly to physical felt fear, even if the causes are emotional or imaginary.

Anxious means tense and worried. Fearful may mean full of terror or dread, but often means merely apprehensive ?that is, anticipating danger, failure or trouble. In the latter sense, fearful shares with anxious the suggestion that the worry stems from inner concern without much relevance to external conditions, and is in this sense unreasonable. Apprehensive suggests awareness of impending danger caused by circumstances, and does not depend so much on one’s peculiar nature or habitual state of mind.

• She was anxious about her daughter being out so late at night; The playwright was fearful that his first opening would be a failure; an investor who was apprehensive about his holdings during the recession; We are frankly fearful of another depression unless the economy improves radically in the next few months.

Aghast , alarmed and terror-stricken are applied to strong feelings of fear or fright. Aghast means afraid or frightened to the point of shock. A man waking up in a burning house will be aghast at the thought that his family may be in grave danger. Alarmed means suddenly and sharply afraid or frightened . Parents will be alarmed by a sudden outbreak of polio in their community. Terror-stricken is the strongest word in this list, and suggests fear to strong that normal reactions are suppressed. A terror-stricken person who is drowning may in panic resist the efforts of someone who is trying to save him.