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:
This summer’s food-safety scare is handing local farmers markets a massive customer surge, the Journal’s Amira McKee and Maya Davis write.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
See: Emerging China threat puts a scare into AI hardware stocks.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 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
In order for the man in the red jacket to be okay, he needed to know that he could scare us.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
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
This is a big challenge - this scares off many people.
From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2026
"I've already heard of Ebola and it's a disease that scares me a lot," Mapenzi said as she washed her laundry in a basin on the ground.
From Barron's ● May 29, 2026
You write about how you hate feelings, but also movingly about loved ones’ health scares and your childhood.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 25, 2026
“Don't encourage her, Vladas. The girl is so headstrong, it scares me to death,” said Papa.
From "Between Shades of Gray" by Ruta Sepetys
At the clinic, she told staff she was scared and thought she might want to keep her baby, hoping to talk through her options.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
Daniela Schmidt, an Austrian tourist, told AFP by phone she was "quite scared" as she saw wildfires sweep parts of the island overnight.
From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026
"I went from being a very confident person, good at my job, to someone scared to go outside," he said.
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
Like I said, if she lacks confidence she might be too scared to ask questions.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026
“Oh, I’m not scared of the dark, Grandpa,” I said.
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
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
Mounting piles of garbage, stagnant water and a crumbling health system fueled outbreaks of mosquito-borne illnesses, further scaring away tourists.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 27, 2026
“Higher mortgage rates are scaring off some buyers, but that’s opening the door for others,” Chen Zhao, Redfin’s head of economics research, said in a statement.
From Barron's ● May 26, 2026
"I was so agitated that I was scared. I was scaring myself because I felt out of control," he said.
From BBC ● May 13, 2026
A moment later, we heard the engine of the police car scream to life and tires skidding in the dirt, scaring our chickens into a bunch of squawking.
From "Root Magic" by Eden Royce
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.
