panic

/'pænik/

Thân thiện

A crowd begins to panic when the fire alarm sounds.

Definition

1. Noun:

   • Sudden, overwhelming fear or anxiety: A sudden, intense feeling of fear that often spreads quickly among a group of people, causing irrational or frantic behavior.
   • A situation causing widespread fear: An event or circumstance that triggers such a collective fear.

2. Verb:

   • To feel or cause sudden, overwhelming fear: To be overcome by a sudden, intense fear, often leading to irrational actions. Also, to cause someone else to experience this feeling.

Examples

• Noun:

  • There was panic in the stock market after the news broke.
  • A wave of panic swept through the crowd when they heard the loud noise.

• Verb:

  • The loud explosion panicked the horses.
  • Don't panic; we have plenty of time to solve this problem.

Advanced Usage

• "panic buying": A situation where many people suddenly buy large quantities of goods due to fear of a shortage.

  • There was panic buying of essential supplies before the storm hit.

• "in a panic": In a state of sudden, frantic fear.

  • She called the doctor in a panic when her child had a high fever.

• "panic-stricken" / "panic-struck": Filled with or showing sudden, overwhelming fear.

  • The panic-stricken passengers rushed toward the exits.

Variants and Related Words

• Panicky (adj): Feeling or showing sudden, uncontrolled fear.

  • She felt panicky when she realized she was lost.

• Panic attack (n): A sudden, discrete episode of intense fear or discomfort.

  • He experienced a panic attack during the flight.

Synonyms

• Noun: Alarm, terror, hysteria, fright, dread.
• Verb: Frighten, alarm, terrify, scare.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Panic over: To become excessively worried or fearful about something.
  • There's no need to panic over a small mistake.

Related Idioms

• Push the panic button: To react to a situation with sudden, excessive fear or alarm.

  • The project has a small delay, but it's not time to push the panic button yet.

• In a blind panic: In a state of such extreme fear that one cannot think or act rationally.

  • He fled the scene in a blind panic.

Học thuật

Noun

1. sudden mass fear and anxiety over anticipated events
   • panic in the stock market
   • a war scare
   • a bomb scare led them to evacuate the building
2. an overwhelming feeling of fear and anxiety

Verb

1. cause sudden fear in or fill with sudden panic
   • The mere thought of an isolation cell panicked the prisoners
2. be overcome by a sudden fear
   • The students panicked when told that final exams were less than a week away

Từ đồng nghĩa

• scare
• terror
• affright