Fright is a sudden, intense feeling of fear. When something scary happens unexpectedly, like a bat flying past your face in the dark or someone jumping out from behind a door, that jolt of fear is fright. Your heart pounds, you might gasp or jump, and for a moment you feel completely startled.

Fright is different from ongoing worry or anxiety. It hits you all at once, usually when you're surprised by something that seems dangerous or threatening. A frightening movie might make you experience fright during its scariest scenes. A frightful storm with crashing thunder and lightning can fill people with fright.

You might say something gave you “quite a fright” or that you were “frightened out of your wits.” People often feel fright at things that turn out to be harmless: a shadow that looked like a person, a loud noise that was just a book falling, or a garden hose that looked like a snake. Once the moment passes and you realize there's no real danger, the fright fades quickly, though your racing heart might take a minute to slow down.