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Thrill vs Fright - What's the difference?

thrill | fright |

As verbs the difference between thrill and fright

is that thrill is (ergative) to suddenly excite someone, or to give someone great pleasure; to (figuratively) electrify; to experience such a sensation while fright is (archaic) to frighten.

As nouns the difference between thrill and fright

is that thrill is a trembling or quivering, especially one caused by emotion while fright is a state of terror excited by the sudden appearance of danger; sudden and violent fear, usually of short duration; a sudden alarm.

thrill

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • (ergative) To suddenly excite someone, or to give someone great pleasure; to (figuratively) electrify; to experience such a sensation.
  • * 1937 , Frank Churchill and Leigh Harline, “One Song”, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs , Walt Disney:
    • One love / That has possessed me; / One love / Thrilling me through
  • * M. Arnold
    • vivid and picturesque turns of expression which thrill the reader with sudden delight
  • * Spenser
    • The cruel word her tender heart so thrilled , / That sudden cold did run through every vein.
  • (ergative) To (cause something to) tremble or quiver.
  • (obsolete) To perforate by a pointed instrument; to bore; to transfix; to drill.
  • * Spenser
    • He pierced through his chafed chest / With thrilling point of deadly iron brand.
  • (obsolete) To hurl; to throw; to cast.
  • * Heywood
    • I'll thrill my javelin.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A trembling or quivering, especially one caused by emotion.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1935, author= George Goodchild
    • , title=Death on the Centre Court, chapter=1 , passage=She mixed furniture with the same fatal profligacy as she mixed drinks, and this outrageous contact between things which were intended by Nature to be kept poles apart gave her an inexpressible thrill .}}
  • A cause of sudden excitement; a kick.
  • (medicine) A slight quivering of the heart that accompanies a cardiac murmur.
  • A breathing place or hole; a nostril, as of a bird.

    • Derived terms

    * cheap thrill * thrill kill / thrill killing * thrill killer * thrilly

    fright

    English

    Noun

    (wikipedia fright)
  • A state of terror excited by the sudden appearance of danger; sudden and violent fear, usually of short duration; a sudden alarm.
  • * 1994 , (Stephen Fry), (The Hippopotamus) Chapter 2:
    • With a bolt of fright he remembered that there was no bathroom in the Hobhouse Room. He leapt along the corridor in a panic, stopping by the long-case clock at the end where he flattened himself against the wall.
  • Anything strange, ugly or shocking, producing a feeling of alarm or aversion.
  • * 1819 , Lord Byron, Don Juan , I:
    • Her maids were old, and if she took a new one,
    You might be sure she was a perfect fright ;
    She did this during even her husband's life
    I recommend as much to every wife.

    Derived terms

    * fright wig

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (archaic) to frighten