glare

¹

[glair]

noun

1. a very harsh, bright, dazzling light.

   in the glare of sunlight.

   Synonyms: flash, glitter, flare

2. a fiercely or angrily piercing stare.

3. dazzling or showy appearance; showiness.

verb (used without object)

glared, glaring 

1. to shine with or reflect a very harsh, bright, dazzling light.

2. to stare with a fiercely or angrily piercing look.

3. Archaic.,  to appear conspicuous; stand out obtrusively.

verb (used with object)

glared, glaring 

1. to express with a glare.

   They glared their anger at each other.

glare

²

[glair]

noun

1. a bright, smooth surface, as of ice.

glare

¹

/ ɡlɛə /

verb

1. (intr) to stare angrily; glower

2. (tr) to express by glowering

3. (intr) (of light, colour, etc) to be very bright and intense

4. (intr) to be dazzlingly ornamented or garish

noun

1. an angry stare

2. a dazzling light or brilliance

3. garish ornamentation or appearance; gaudiness

glare

²

/ ɡlɛə /

adjective

1. smooth and glassy

   glare ice

Other Word Forms

• glareless adjective
• glary adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of glare¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; (for the verb) Middle English glaren; cognate with Middle Dutch, Middle Low German glaren; akin to glass (compare Old English glæren “glassy”); noun derivative of the verb

Origin of glare²

First recorded in 1560–70; special use of glare ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of glare¹

C13: probably from Middle Low German, Middle Dutch glaren to gleam; probably related to Old English glæren glassy; see _glass

Origin of glare²

C16: special use of _glare ¹

Synonym Study

See shine ¹. Glare, glower, gloat all have connotations of emotion that accompany an intense gaze. To glare is to look piercingly or angrily: A tiger glares at its prey. To glower is to look fiercely and threateningly, as from wrath; it suggests a scowl along with a glare: to glower at a mischievous child. To gloat meant originally to look with exultation, avaricious or malignant, on something or someone: a tyrant gloating over the helplessness of his victim. Today, however, it may simply imply inner exultation.

Example Sentences

Stocks of AI hyperscalers have continued to rise, but there was one glaring exception among the heavy hitters this week.

Read more on MarketWatch

The problem is worse for older people, whose eyes take around nine seconds to recover from glare, compared to one second for a 16-year-old, according to road safety consultant, Rob Heard.

Read more on BBC

As the U.S. has become the world’s largest oil and gas exporter, its shipping vulnerability has become glaring.

Read more on Barron's

While the Dodgers’ overall offense has been inconsistent this postseason, Pages has endured the most glaring slump.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The glaring problems they had last season were conceding too many goals and being too easy to play against, and I'm sure when Frank arrived at Tottenham he thought, 'let's fix that first'.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• frown 
• gape 
• gawk 
• glower 
• scowl 
• stare