scare

[skair]

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

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

/ 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

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

Other Word Forms

• scarer noun
• scaringly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of scare¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of scare¹

C12: from Old Norse skirra; related to Norwegian skjerra, Swedish dialect skjarra

Idioms and Phrases

• run scared

Synonym Study

See frighten.

Example Sentences

In Malta, Poland were given a scare on the way to a victory which ultimately did not lift them out of second place.

Read more on Barron's

The teenager and his family, who are all U.S. citizens, “were already scared to begin with” before the incident happened, Kirakosian said, pointing to Latinos, even citizens, getting pulled into immigration enforcement across the country.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Some experts quoted by Polish media suggest the aim was mainly psychological: that the explosives were meant to derail the train, not destroy it, to scare Poland off continuing its support for Ukraine.

Read more on BBC

It was a great idea to start with the vampires, a Wes Craven-style of scaring the s— out of the audience and then building up the story.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Angela’s vivid mood swings are a wellspring of entertainment; Tommy associates her phone number with an orchestral ringtone that sounds like a horror movie jump scare.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

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