Meanings
comparative more panicky · superlative most panicky
- In a state of panic.
Banning the king from Cop27 looks clumsy. News that Sunak could make a U-turn dash to Egypt having learned that Johnson may go looks panicky.
2022 November 1, Polly Toynbee, “Rishi Sunak’s only been in office for a few days – and the errors are already piling up”, in The Guardian1 more example
At six feet the panicky thought rushed into my mind, What if he will not run? Why, then I shall club him, came the answer. In my fear I had forgotten that I was there to get the bull instead of to make him run. And just then he gave a snort and a snarl and rushed at me.
1904, Jack London, chapter 30, in The Sea-Wolf (Macmillan’s Standard Library), New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, →OCLC
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivethrown into a state of intense fear or desperation
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Translations
Czech panický
- panickýin a state of panic
French paniqué, saisi de panique
- paniquéin a state of panic
- saisi de paniquein a state of panic
German panisch, panikartig
- panischin a state of panic
- panikartigin a state of panic
Irish anbhách, scaollmhar
- anbháchin a state of panic
- scaollmharin a state of panic
Japanese パニック状態
- パニック状態 (panikku joutai)in a state of panic
Polish w panice
- w panicein a state of panic
Romanian panicat
- panicatin a state of panic
Russian панический
- панический (paničeskij)in a state of panic
Spanish aterrado, aterrorizado
- aterradoin a state of panic
- aterrorizadoin a state of panic
- paniqueado (Lat. Am.)in a state of panic
Swedish panikslagen, panisk
- panikslagenin a state of panic
- paniskin a state of panic
Cite this entry
panicky. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/panicky
“panicky.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/panicky. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “panicky,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/panicky.
Source: panicky on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.