a sudden feeling of great fear that cannot be controlled and prevents you from thinking clearly

a situation in which people are made to feel very anxious or frightened, causing them to act quickly and without thinking carefully

News of the losses caused (a) panic among investors.

Careful planning at this stage will help to avoid a last-minute panic.

There's no panic, we've got plenty of time.

to suddenly feel frightened so that you cannot think clearly and you say or do something stupid, dangerous, etc.; to make somebody do this

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