PANIC-STRICKEN Synonyms: 102 Similar and Opposite Words

panic-stricken

adjective

Definition of panic-stricken

as in frightened

too overcome with panic to think or act normally The panic-stricken horses crashed through the door of the burning barn.

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of panic-stricken For the first time in his life, the great shark couldn’t swim freely and, panic-stricken, bolted clear of his world and there was only emptiness, and his tail and pectoral fins were helpless in the void. — Pat Smith, Outdoor Life, 24 July 2025 These are not the first crew members to be panic-stricken by a stray rat today. — Dalton Ross, EW.com, 12 May 2023

Recent Examples of Synonyms for panic-stricken

Adjective

Use of QACs soared during the Covid-19 pandemic as frightened masses sanitized themselves and nearly everything else in sight.

— Sandee LaMotte, CNN Money, 7 Aug. 2026
Families were frightened, communities were looking for guidance, and clinicians were desperate for answers.

— Ronald Nahass, STAT, 6 Aug. 2026

Definition of frightened

Adjective

Dramatic photos taken from the scene show a firefighter on a tower ladder plucking a panicked child from a fire escape.

— Rocco Parascandola, New York Daily News, 5 Aug. 2026
His pets were accused of the unneighborly habit of loosing themselves upon suburban streets, prompting panicked phone calls and unnecessary police raids.

— Dan Piepenbring, Harpers Magazine, 4 Aug. 2026

Definition of panicked

Adjective

During the attack, terrified students huddled together under their desks, sobbing as gunshots rang out nearby, video filmed inside a classroom and verified by CNN showed.

— Helen Regan, CNN Money, 7 Aug. 2026
At a news conference, Twin Falls police released dramatic surveillance video that showed terrified employees diving for cover and shielding one another.

— Emily Shapiro, ABC News, 7 Aug. 2026

Definition of terrified

Adjective

Lastly, to dull the war-mongering vigor of the Rivermen, Ormund installs small, scared little boys, ripped from their homes, all along the chemin de ronde — a baby human shield for Ser Daeron the Daring’s great army.

— Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 10 Aug. 2026
And feeling so scared and so overwound by the idea that this was going to make or break our career.

— Jim Ryan, Forbes.com, 6 Aug. 2026

Definition of scared

Adjective

The vice president was panicky, the authors wrote.

— Maureen Dowd, Mercury News, 18 June 2026
In the mid-2010s, when every other norm of civility was beginning to fall apart, Jeopardy strategy became a panicky knife fight for the Doubles, the most powerful clues on the board.

— Drew Goins, The Atlantic, 19 May 2026

Definition of panicky

Browse Nearby Words

panics

panic-stricken

panjandrum

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Style

“Panic-stricken.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/panic-stricken. Accessed 13 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of panic-stricken

adjective

Example Sentences

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