panic has definitions from the fields of psychology,psychiatry
1
[ noun ] an overwhelming feeling of fear and anxiety

Synonyms

terror

Used in print

(Tristram Coffin, Not to the Swift....)

He was n't troubled with the ordinary , rank-and-file fear that overcomes and paralyzes and sends individual soldiers and whole companies under_fire running in panic .

(Irving Stone, The Agony and the Ecstasy....)

By the second day Michelangelo began to worry ; and by the second night he was in a state of panic : he could see nothing out of the afflicted eye .

Related terms

fear terrorize terrify

2
[ noun ] (psychology,psychiatry) sudden mass fear and anxiety over anticipated events

Synonyms

scare

Examples

"panic in the stock market" "a war scare" "a bomb scare led them to evacuate the building"

Used in print

(Ann Hebson, The Lattimer Legend....)

In blind panic of grief she accepted Jonathan 's dictum , and believed in her desperation that she had been cursed by God .

Related terms

anxiety red_scare daunt

3
[ verb ] be overcome by a sudden fear

Examples

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

Used in print

(James Thurber, "The Future, If Any, of Comedy,"...)

The rhinos would panic , screaming ' Help ' !

Related terms

fear freak_out

4
[ verb ] cause sudden fear in or fill with sudden panic

Examples

"The mere thought of an isolation cell panicked the prisoners"

Used in print

(David Stacton, The Judges of the Secret Court....)

It was not exactly panic they gave_way to , but they could not just sit there .

Related terms

terrify

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