These words mean to fill with fear or apprehension. Frighten is the most general word, having the widest range of uses. It often indicates a fear of physical harm, but it may also apply to fears rooted in emotion or arising from imagination. In an immediate sense, a person is frightened by a cause of fear addressed directly and suddenly to the senses. He may react physically in a number of negative ways ?shivering, shuddering, freezing, fainting, screaming, running, hiding, having a heart attack. At one extreme, being frightened may involve only a brief pang or flutter of fear: frightened by a strange noise in the middle of the night. At the other extreme, it may imply dread or terror that paralyses thought, motion or response, leaving one in a state of shock: a pedestrian crossing absent-mindedly against the light, frightened into immobility by an onrushing car. Frighten is also used to indicate a fearful, apprehensive state of mind: The prospect of being deserted by her husband deeply frightened her.

Scare is close to frighten in that it can imply either sudden, unnerving fear or a fearful, uneasy state. Even more strongly than frighten , it stresses a reflex physical reaction, whether literal or figurative: scared stiff. But scare is a more informal word than frighten and may suggest a milder or more superficial form of fear, whatever the cause.

• He is scared of the dark; Out approach scared the rabbit and he ran.

Scare is also often used to suggest the deliberate stimulation of fear, as in games, teasing, initiation, practical jokes or other forms of amusement, whether harmless or dangerous: a scary movie; to scare children with a ghost story.

• I scared you, didn’t I? The stunt pilot sacred them half to death.

Startle stresses the element of sudden surprise, usually involving an involuntary reaction to an unexpected stimulus. A startled person may gasp, jump, draw back or make a quick, jerky movement and then freeze.

• Oh! You startled me ?I didn’t see you come in; startled by a rabbit running across his path.

In another sense, startle may simply indicate an inner, intellectual surprise at something unexpected: startled by their daughter’s request but trying hard not to show it.

Terrify is the strongest of these words, suggesting extreme, overwhelming fear that is close to panic: The violence of the storm terrified the sailors. The word may be an intensification of frighten in the sense of fear that paralyses all the faculties, physical and mental: too terrified to speak. But it may also suggest wild, frenzied activity aimed at escaping a threatening situation: terrified people trying to get out of a burning building. In a looser sense, terrify is sometimes used hyperbolically to imply intimidation or nervous agitation: terrified by the exam; terrified that she would be late.