Frightfulness

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The state or quality of something that causes fear, terror, or alarm
2. The characteristic of being very frightening or alarming to people
3. A measure of how terrifying, dreadful, or shocking something appears

Etymology: Frightfulness is a plain formation: the adjective "frightful" with the suffix "-ness", which turns a quality into a noun. "Frightful" itself comes from "fright" with the adjectival ending "-ful", so the word stacks two suffixes onto an older root. The suffix "-ness" has been part of English since Old English, when it was spelled "-nes" and attached freely to adjectives to name the state or degree of a quality, as in "goodness" or "sweetness". Its use with "frightful" is a straightforward extension of that long-standing pattern. The word's shape is more interesting than its history. "Frightful" began as an adjective meaning full of fright, and "frightfulness" took on the sense of how terrifying or shocking something appears. Because the suffix is so productive, English speakers can form such nouns on demand, which is why it is easy to find the same pattern in many other words.

Synonyms: horror, terror, dread, apprehension, alarm

Antonyms: calmness, peacefulness, safety, serenity, composure