scare
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
noun
-
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.
-
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
-
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.
-
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.
verb
-
to fill or be filled with fear or alarm
-
(tr; often foll by away or off) to drive (away) by frightening
-
informal (tr) (foll by up)
-
to produce (a meal) quickly from whatever is available
-
to manage to find (something) quickly or with difficulty
brewers need to scare up more sales
-
noun
-
a sudden attack of fear or alarm
-
a period of general fear or alarm
adjective
Synonym Usage
See frighten.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
scaresimple
-
scaressimple
-
have scaredperfect
-
has scaredperfect
-
am scaringprogressive
-
are scaringprogressive
-
is scaringprogressive
-
have been scaringperfect progressive
-
has been scaringperfect progressive
Past
-
scaredsimple
-
had scaredperfect
-
was scaringprogressive
-
were scaringprogressive
-
had been scaringperfect progressive
Future
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
Explanation
Scare is a verb that means frighten or intimidate. You might be embarrassed to admit that you don't want to go to the beach with your friends because of how much seagulls scare you. Questions on a test you're unprepared for might scare you, and so might a barking dog. To scare is to spook, startle, or cause fear, and what scares your best friend most (like losing his job) might not be what would scare you more than anything (like discovering a huge snake in your shower). You can also use scare as a noun, as in "It gave me such a scare when all my friends jumped out and yelled, 'Surprise!'"
Vocabulary lists containing scare
Terrify
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Terrify
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Terrify
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“They create a scare in the general public around these models,” he added.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
There is a spa trip and fancy dinner at a restaurant and behind it all, lurking silently, a cancer scare.
From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2026
It's the kind of scare marketing AI companies have been accused of for years and, since the much discussed launch of Anthropic's Mythos model, cyber-security prowess has been a focal point.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
Prior to Addy’s scare, the most recent high-profile rattlesnake incident in California occurred in Butte County, when a man visiting from Idaho was bitten twice and was hospitalized for 12 days.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
They eat people’s livestock in the country, and knock over trash cans and scare people’s dogs in the city.
From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz
He has also survived health scares, notably a fall in his bathroom in 2024 that caused a brain bleed.
From Barron's ● Aug. 2, 2026
In the 50 years that have followed, audiences have become somewhat less susceptible to scares, but no less susceptible to phenomena.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026
Rufus also scares pigeons away from Westminster Abbey and Lord's Cricket Ground, among other sites.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
Unlike traditional horror that mixes dark visuals with jump scares, in “Backrooms” the long hallways and blind corners are starkly lighted and terror builds slowly.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 31, 2026
But what scares me more is what Dad said.
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
"I have nieces who are scared," he added.
From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026
Like I said, if she lacks confidence she might be too scared to ask questions.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026
“People are still scared to come down here. However, our community is very, very rich in culture.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
But, as she later acknowledges, “women have always scared me more than men, because the pain they’ve caused me always goes so much deeper, and because I take them so much more seriously.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
Didn’t want to make the words real by hearing myself say them out loud: scared that if I pretended to forget who we were, it would mean accepting that the past was truly dead.
From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler
The air carrier said higher fares aren’t scaring away customers, who are prioritizing travel spend.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
A series of military exercises taking place in empty buildings across the Southland are scaring residents and rattling neighbors as the sound of gunfire rings out in the dark and troops descend from helicopters.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2026
"It was just a way for them to sound smart, and I really hate that. I think we're scaring people and that's irresponsible," he said.
From Barron's ● May 27, 2026
Resident Faye Sturgess said: "Being a farming community, we're used to hearing bangs from scaring the rabbits in the fields, but this was like nothing I've ever heard."
From BBC ● May 10, 2026
Last week alone, she appeared in human form in a dozen different places, scaring the horns off some of my friends.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
