panic
Pronunciation: /ˈpænɪk/
The English word “panic” has 13 meanings listed here.
adjective
- Of fear, fright, etc: overwhelming or sudden.
- Pertaining to or resulting from overwhelming fear or fright.
noun
- Overwhelming fear or fright, often affecting groups of people or animals; (countable) an instance of this; a fright, a scare.
- A rapid reduction in asset prices due to broad efforts to raise cash in anticipation of such prices continuing to decline.
- A highly amusing or entertaining performer, performance, or show; a riot, a scream.
- Foxtail millet or Italian millet (Setaria italica), the second-most widely grown species of millet.
- A plant of the genus Panicum, or of similar plants of other genera (especially Echinochloa and Setaria) formerly included within Panicum; panicgrass or panic grass.
- The edible grain obtained from one of the above plants.
verb
- To cause (someone) to feel panic (“overwhelming fear or fright”); also, to frighten (someone) into acting hastily.
- To cause (a computer system) to crash.
- To highly amuse, entertain, or impress (an audience watching a performance or show).
- To feel panic, or overwhelming fear or fright; to freak out, to lose one's head.
- Of a computer system: to crash.
Etymology
The adjective is borrowed from Middle French panique, a word itself borrowed from Ancient Greek πανικός (panikós, “pertaining to Pan”); Pan, the Greek god of fields and woods, was believed to be the source of mysterious sounds that caused contagious, groundless fear in herds and crowds, or in people in lonely spots. Adjective sense 3 (“pertaining to or resulting from overpowering fear or fright”)…
Keep exploring: in the interactive dictionary every word of a definition is a link. Open “panic” there
More English words
About this dictionary
The English dictionary on Glottosphere has 650,529 entries with a page. Browse the English dictionary.
Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.