different between sickening vs frightful

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?s?k(?)n??/
• Hyphenation: sick?en?ing

Verb

sickening

1. present participle of sicken

Adjective

sickening (comparative more sickening, superlative most sickening)

1. Causing sickness or disgust.
2. (LGBT slang) Amazing, fantastic.
   • 2014, The Infamous Todd Kachinski Kottmeier, Drag King Guide: So You Want to Be a Male Impersonator, Lulu.com, ?ISBN, p. 188:

     Richard Cranium does sickening stuff (if your budget permits), stones from Charles Brennan and lots of imagination.

   • 2016, Juackie Huba and Shelly Stewart Kronbergs, Fiercely You: Be Fabulous and Confident by Thinking Like a Drag Queen, Berret-Koehler, ?ISBN, no page number:

     Latrice lives every day by her mantra, “It’s OK to make mistakes. It’s OK to fall down. Get up, look sickening, and make them eat it!” Translation: rise above your downfalls in life, and always look amazing while dismissing the haters.

   • 2017, Mayka Castellando and Heitor Leal Machado, “‘Please come to Brazil!’ The practices of RuPaul’s Drag Race’s Brazilian fandom”, in RuPaul’s Drag Race and the Shifting Visibility of Drag Culture, ed. by Niall Brennan and David Gudelunas, Springer, ?ISBN, p. 172:

     Back with the seventh season next March 2nd, RuPaul’s Drag Race promises to gather fans and followers in front of the computer to watch the new competition to crown the most sickening queen.

Translations

See also

• loathsome
• disgusting
• abominable
• detestable
• hateful

Noun

sickening (plural sickenings)

1. The act of making somebody sick.
   • 2010, Greg A. Marley, Chanterelle Dreams, Amanita Nightmares

     In the Northeast, one porcini look-alike has been implicated in several sickenings. It is Boletus huronensis, and though some guides call it edible, there have been a few cases of people becoming sickened following a meal of this mushroom.

English

Alternative forms

• frightfull (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English frightful (“afraid”), from Old English forhtful (“fainthearted, timorous”). Equivalent to fright +? -ful.

Pronunciation

• enPR: fr?t?f?l, IPA^(key): /?f?a?tf?l/
• Hyphenation: fright?ful

Adjective

frightful (comparative more frightful, superlative most frightful)

1. (obsolete) Full of fright, whether
   1. Afraid, frightened.
      • c. 1250, Genesis and Exodus, line 3459:

        Ðis frigtful ðus a-biden,
        Quiles ðis dai?es for ben gliden.

   2. Timid, fearful, easily frightened.
2. Full of something causing fright, whether
   1. Genuinely horrific, awful, or alarming.
   2. (hyperbolic) Unpleasant, dreadful, awful (also used as an intensifier).
      • 1990, House of Cards, Season 1, Episode 1:

        Francis Urquhart: What a frightful little man. Where do they find them these days?
        Tim Stamper: God knows. If I had a dog like that, I'd shoot it.
        Francis Urquhart: Well, yes. Quite.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:frightening
• See Thesaurus:bad

Derived terms

• frightfully

Translations

Adverb

frightful (comparative more frightful, superlative most frightful)

1. (dialect) Frightfully; very.

References

• Webster's, "frightful", 1913.
• Oxford English Dictionary, "frightful, adj.", 1898.

Middle English

Alternative forms

• frigtful

Etymology

From Old English forhtful; equivalent to fright +? -ful.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?frixt?ful/

Adjective

frightful

1. (rare) afraid, frightened

Descendants

• English: frightful

References

• “frightful, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-05.