panic

Meanings

Plural: panics

Noun

an overwhelming feeling of fear and anxiety
sudden mass fear and anxiety over anticipated events
- "panic in the stock market"
Overwhelming fear or fright, often affecting groups of people or animals; (countable) an instance of this; a fright, a scare.
Ellipsis of kernel panic (“on Unix-derived operating systems: an action taken by the operating system when it cannot recover from a fatal error”); (by extension) any computer system crash.
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

be overcome by a sudden fear
- "The students panicked when told that final exams were less than a week away"
cause sudden fear in or fill with sudden panic
- "The mere thought of an isolation cell panicked the prisoners"
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.

Adj

Alternative letter-case form of Panic (“pertaining to the Greek god Pan”).
Of fear, fright, etc: overwhelming or sudden.
Pertaining to or resulting from overwhelming fear or fright.

Origin / 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”) is partly an attributive use of the noun.
The noun is derived from the adjective, while the verb is derived from the noun. Verb sense 1.3 (“to highly amuse, entertain, or impress (an audience watching a performance or show”) is derived from noun sense 4 (“a highly amusing or entertaining performer, performance, or show”).

Synonyms

affright, Pandean, panical, scare, terror

Scrabble Score: 9

panic is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
panic is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
panic is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 12

panic is a valid Words With Friends word