Library / English Dictionary

PANIC

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: panicked    , panicking   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

An overwhelming feeling of fear and anxiety

Synonyms:

affright; panic; terror

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Hypernyms ("panic" is a kind of...):

fear; fearfulness; fright (an emotion experienced in anticipation of some specific pain or danger (usually accompanied by a desire to flee or fight))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "panic"):

swivet (a panic or extreme discomposure)

Derivation:

panic (cause sudden fear in or fill with sudden panic)

panic (be overcome by a sudden fear)

panicky (thrown into a state of intense fear or desperation)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Sudden mass fear and anxiety over anticipated events

Example:

a bomb scare led them to evacuate the building

Synonyms:

panic; scare

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("panic" is a kind of...):

anxiety; anxiousness ((psychiatry) a relatively permanent state of worry and nervousness occurring in a variety of mental disorders, usually accompanied by compulsive behavior or attacks of panic)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "panic"):

red scare (a period of general fear of communists)

Derivation:

panic (cause sudden fear in or fill with sudden panic)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cause sudden fear in or fill with sudden panic

Example:

The mere thought of an isolation cell panicked the prisoners

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "panic" is one way to...):

terrify; terrorise; terrorize (fill with terror; frighten greatly)

Cause:

panic (be overcome by a sudden fear)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The bad news will panic him

Derivation:

panic (an overwhelming feeling of fear and anxiety)

panic (sudden mass fear and anxiety over anticipated events)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Be overcome by a sudden fear

Example:

The students panicked when told that final exams were less than a week away

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "panic" is one way to...):

dread; fear (be afraid or scared of; be frightened of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "panic"):

freak; freak out; gross out (lose one's nerve)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sentence example:

Sam and Sue panic

Derivation:

panic (an overwhelming feeling of fear and anxiety)

Credits

 Context examples: 

A type of anxiety disorder characterized by unexpected panic attacks that last minutes or, rarely, hours.

(Panic Disorder, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

A panic in a crowd, which partakes of a sort of community of interest, is not so terrible as a panic when one is by oneself; and such a panic I now suffered.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

He was in a panic of terror.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

For a moment there was danger of a general panic.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He was in a panic of superstitious fear, and I am afraid the panic may spread.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

A therapeutic exercise used in treatment of pain, hyperventilation, panic, and other conditions.

(Imagery Therapy, NCI Thesaurus)

People with agoraphobia are usually very anxious about having a panic attack in a public place.

(Agoraphobia, NCI Dictionary)

Panic disorder may or may not be accompanied by agoraphobia.

(Panic Disorder, NCI Thesaurus)

Meg got behind his chair under pretense of smoothing the wrinkles out of his tired forehead, and standing there, she said, with her panic increasing with every word...

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

An extreme, irrational, fear of something that may cause a person to panic.

(Phobia, NCI Dictionary)