Word of the Day: Panic
When a person feels very afraid of something, he or she might panic. It’s not good to panic because extreme fear can cause a person to lose the ability to think clearly, resulting in poor decision making. When a large group of people panic all at once, it can create a dangerous situation.
- Everyone panicked when they heard the alarm go off. (Notice a “k” and “ed” are added to spell the past tense.)
- A fire in the auditorium caused the audience to panic. As a result, several people were trampled. (trample = crushed by the weight of others)
- Please don’t panic. We’ll figure a way out of this.
- If you panic, you’ll just make the situation worse.
- Students panicked when they learned there was an active shooter inside the school building.
As a noun, the word “panic” looks like this:
- When water seeped into the boat, it created a feeling of panic among the passengers.
- There was widespread panic after the people learned that their country had been invaded.
You can use the word “panicky” as an adjective:
- Sheila feels a little panicky when she’s in a room with too many people. She has claustrophobia.
- The children got a little panicky before the tornado struck.
- Try not to get panicky. The police will be here soon.
Essential English Dictionary
Visit the Popular English Words Beginning with P page to see the list of all words starting with letter P. For seeing the HiCafe dictionary, visit the Popular English Words with Meaning page.
