20 Ways to Talk About Being Scared
Whether we love or hate being scared, Halloween is here again. Here are 20 ways of expressing fear:
- afraid of your own shadow – nervous/timid/easily frightened
For a long time after he was rescued, the cat was afraid of his own shadow.
- shaking like a leaf – to tremble with fear
He was shaking like a leaf when he first stepped onto the stage, but by the end of the performance he was standing tall and smiling.
- quaking in your boots – trembling with fear
The thought of watching a horror film left him quaking in his boots.
- heebie jeebies – a state of fear/discomfort/nervousness
Moths gave her the heebie-jeebies.
- scared out of one’s wits – extremely frightened
‘I was scared out of my wits when I heard screaming, but it was just some children playing.’
- scared stiff – extremely frightened
He was scared stiff of spiders.
- to break out in a cold sweat – to sweat due to fear or anxiety
The thought of his presentation made him break out in cold sweat.
- to freak out – to act in a dramatic manner due to fear or excitement/to frighten someone
‘You’re really freaking me out!’ he screamed while his friend was telling ghost stories
- to get the jitters – to feel very nervous
‘Exams give me the jitters,’ she admitted to her teacher.
- to jump out of one’s skin – to be startled
‘When the vampire appeared, I jumped out of my skin!’ she said after the film.
- to make someone’s blood run cold – to horrify someone
‘Every time I hear the ‘Jaws’ soundtrack, my blood runs cold.’
- to scare the living daylights out of – to severely frighten
Stephen King novels scared the living daylights out of her, but she still loved reading them.
- to strike fear into the hearts of – to cause someone/a group of people to become very frightened
The news about the escaped convict struck fear into the hearts of local residents.
- to whistle in the dark – to pretend to be unafraid
Anyone who says they liked the film is just whistling in the dark.
- shivers down one’s spine – an eerie/frightened feeling
The silence in the house sent shivers down his spine.
- goosebumps – small bumps on the surface of the skin caused by cold or fear
‘I had goosebumps all the way through the film, but I couldn’t stop watching.’
- to scare the hell out of – to frighten someone
‘You scared the hell out of me!’ he shouted.
- to make someone’s hair stand on end – to alarm or frighten someone
The sound of crying made her hair stand on end.
- to chicken out – to opt out of doing something due to being frightened
‘I really wanted to go on the rollercoaster but in the end, I chickened out.’
- to look as white as a ghost/like you have seen a ghost – to look pale due to shock or fear
‘You look like you’ve seen a ghost,’ he told his mum.
Happy Halloween!
31 Oct 2018
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