panic
noun · adjective · verb
Simple meaning
Overwhelming fear or fright, often affecting groups of people or animals.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
panikSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈpænɪk
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
uncountable
Overwhelming fear or fright, often affecting groups of people or animals; (countable) an instance of this; a fright, a scare.
An overwhelming feeling of fear and anxiety
The edible grain obtained from one of the above plants.
adjective
Of fear, fright, etc: overwhelming or sudden.
Pertaining to or resulting from overwhelming fear or fright.
verb
transitive
To cause (someone) to feel panic ("overwhelming fear or fright"); also, to frighten (someone) into acting hastily.
intransitive
To feel panic, or overwhelming fear or fright; to freak out, to lose one's head.
transitiveUScolloquial
To highly amuse, entertain, or impress (an audience watching a performance or show).
Cause sudden fear in or fill with sudden panic
“The mere thought of an isolation cell panicked the prisoners.”
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Overwhelming fear or fright, often affecting groups of people or animals; (countable) an instance of this; a fright, a scare.
Used this way, panic is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It carries more force than its gentler alternatives. It turns up most in personal or emotional discussion and literature or storytelling contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Strong
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Everyday but emotionally strong
Where it naturally appears
- Personal/emotional discussion
- Literature/storytelling
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
An anxiety disorder characterized by unpredictable panic attacks.
Any grass of the genus Panicum.
A sudden attack of fear.
A button to push in order to summon help in case of an emergency.
Use This Word
See how this word sounds in a real sentence.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “panic” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.