panic
/ˈpeə̯nɪk/ adjective, noun, verb
Forms panics panicking panicked panick
- adjective Of fear, fright, etc: overwhelming or sudden.
- adjective Pertaining to or resulting from overwhelming fear or fright.
- noun (uncountable) Overwhelming fear or fright, often affecting groups of people or animals; (countable) an instance of this; a fright, a scare.
- noun (countable, economics, finance) A rapid reduction in asset prices due to broad efforts to raise cash in anticipation of such prices continuing to decline.
- noun (countable, US, originally theater, colloquial) A highly amusing or entertaining performer, performance, or show; a riot, a scream.
- verb To cause (someone) to feel panic (“overwhelming fear or fright”); also, to frighten (someone) into acting hastily.
- verb (computing) To cause (a computer system) to crash.
- verb (US, colloquial) To highly amuse, entertain, or impress (an audience watching a performance or show).
- verb To feel panic, or overwhelming fear or fright; to freak out, to lose one's head.
- verb (computing) Of a computer system: to crash.
- noun (originally) Foxtail millet or Italian millet (Setaria italica), the second-most widely grown species of millet.
- noun (by extension) 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.
- noun The edible grain obtained from one of the above plants.
- adjective (Greek mythology, archaic) Synonym of Pandean (“pertaining to the Greek god Pan”).
Synonyms
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”).
From Late Middle English panik, panyk (“plant of the genus Panicum”), borrowed from Latin pānicum, pānīcum (“foxtail millet or Italian millet (Setaria italica); plant of the genus Panicum, panicgrass”); further etymology uncertain, probably either from pānis (“bread; loaf”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- (“to graze; to protect; to shepherd”)) or pānus (“ear of millet; thread wound on a bobbin”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)penh₁- (“to twist; to weave”)) + -cum (suffix forming neuter nouns). Doublet of bannock and bonnag
From Pan + -ic.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A plant of the genus Panicum; panic grass; also, the edible grain of some species of panic grass. Panic grass (Bot.), any grass of the genus Panicum.
- adjective Extreme or sudden and causeless; unreasonable; --said of fear or fright; as, panic fear, terror, alarm. "A panic fright." Dryden.
- noun A sudden, overpowering fright; esp., a sudden and groundless fright; terror inspired by a trifling cause or a misapprehension of danger; as, the troops were seized with a panic; they fled in a panic.
- noun By extension: A sudden widespread fright or apprehension concerning financial affairs.
Etymology [L. panicum.]
Etymology [Gr. panique.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “panic”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details