scare

American  

[skair] / skɛər /

verb (used with object)

scared, scaring

1. to fill, especially suddenly, with fear or terror; frighten; alarm.

   What scares me most about the disease is the residual effects on the lungs and heart.

   The ducks scared my sister by flying right toward her.

   Synonyms:

   intimidate , startle

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verb (used without object)

scared, scaring

1. to become frightened.

   That horse scares easily.

noun

1. a sudden fright or alarm, especially with little or no reason.

   I recently had a scare when my computer seemed to be malfunctioning, but it turned out to be nothing.

2. a time or condition of alarm or worry.

   During the anthrax scare, people were leery of opening envelopes from addresses they didn't recognize.

verb phrase

1. scare away / off  to frighten or alarm someone or something so much that they go away and stay away.

   Business leaders felt the fuel tax would scare away consumers fearing higher electricity bills and rising gasoline costs.

   The bee's sting isn't necessarily deadly, but it's painful enough to scare off predators.

2. scare up  to obtain with effort; find or gather.

   We want to renovate the kitchen, but first we'll need to scare up some money.

scare British  

/ skɛə /

verb

1. to fill or be filled with fear or alarm

2. (tr; often foll by away or off) to drive (away) by frightening

3. informal  (tr) (foll by up)

   1. to produce (a meal) quickly from whatever is available

   2. to manage to find (something) quickly or with difficulty

      brewers need to scare up more sales

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noun

1. a sudden attack of fear or alarm

2. a period of general fear or alarm

adjective

1. causing (needless) fear or alarm

   a scare story

scare Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing scare

• run scared

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Related Words

See frighten.

Other Word Forms

• scarer noun
• scaringly adverb

Etymology

Origin of scare

First recorded in 1150–1200; (for the verb) Middle English skerren, from Old Norse skirra “to frighten,” derivative of skjarr “timid, shy”; (for the noun) late Middle English skere, derivative of the verb

Example Sentences

When asked about the differing accounts he gave in police interviews, he said he lied because he was scared.

From BBC

“It’s easy to get scared out of the market when volatility arrives, so those investors who keep this pattern in mind should be more confident holding on through the tough times.”

From Barron's

"In my opinion, it's him that these women should be scared of."

From BBC

"It's not that I struggle to let go of my kids because they're growing up, it's the outside world I worry about. The world scares me."

From BBC

“You don’t know what data he has. What does this do? All it does is scare people,” Offit said.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• alarm
• awe
• daunt
• dismay
• intimidate
• paralyze
• petrify
• shock
• startle
• terrify
• terrorize