scare vs frighten

I would say that there are some differences in usage, even though these words do have similar meanings.

For example, while one could certainly say, "The last earthquake was so severe that the buildings trembled on their foundations," using "shivered" instead of "trembled" would seem quite strange (at least to me).

A voice can also tremble with emotion, but not shiver. Leaves c

For instance, a scary face, a frightening situation, a frightful circumstance. Maybe scary is more often accompanied by embellishments to create an effect. Thanks

rajesh1997 I would say that there are some differences in usage, even though these words do have similar meanings. For example, while one could certainly say, "The last earthquake was so severe that the buildings trembled on their foundations," using "shivered" instead of "trembled" would seem quite strange (at least to me). A voice can also tremble with emotion, but not

Grammar GeekThe question was about scare/frighten not shiver/tremble.

It was an honest mistake, I post both question in a row, so I think clicking on the wrong link cause that.
However, thank you all.

youzou Could you please tell me if there is any difference, even subtle differences, between these two verbs? I mean differences in meaning.

There is no real difference in these verbs. "Scare" seems the word that children would use, or used in childish circumstances.
"Frighten" comes from Old English, and "scare" comes from Old Norse. English has many wor

Thanks, AlpheccaStars. But I thought "scare" is more about state of being in fear, but frighten is more about sudden feeling as a reaction to an action. e.g. I saw a title of a movie "Running Scared" 2006. But "running frightened" is a bit odd. You know what I am talking about? However, I guess both are mostly interchangeable. I hope I could put across what I meant. What would you think about it?

I was speaking of the use of the verbs as the main verb in a sentence.
There is much more difference in usage of the participles and derivatives, eg.

What a scaredy-cat!
What a fright!

Thank you. And could you please explain these differences?

I'm afraid that there is no logical explanation - language happens in mysterious ways.

Thanks for your reply, and true. But perhaps I drifted the main question away, I need to learn when this is proper to use scare and when to use frighten as the main verb for describing thing that causes a fear. Firstly in meaning and secondly in the structure of the sentence.