scare
Americanverb (used with object)
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scares,
present (3rd person singular)
-
scared,
past participle, past
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scaring
present participle
verb (used without object)
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scares,
present (3rd person singular)
-
scared,
past participle, past
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scaring
present participle
noun
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scares
plural
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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.
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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
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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
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to fill or be filled with fear or alarm
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(tr; often foll by away or off) to drive (away) by frightening
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informal (tr) (foll by up)
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to produce (a meal) quickly from whatever is available
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to manage to find (something) quickly or with difficulty
brewers need to scare up more sales
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noun
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a sudden attack of fear or alarm
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a period of general fear or alarm
adjective
Synonym Usage
See frighten.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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scaresimple
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scaressimple
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have scaredperfect
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has scaredperfect
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am scaringprogressive
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are scaringprogressive
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is scaringprogressive
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have been scaringperfect progressive
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has been scaringperfect progressive
Past
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scaredsimple
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had scaredperfect
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was scaringprogressive
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were scaringprogressive
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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:
Garcia-Leys also worried it could scare people off of intervention work.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026
Yet Colas noted that a recessionary scare isn’t the only — or even the most likely — explanation.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026
A lot has changed for football managers over the past few decades but Vincent Kompany's recent health scare was a reminder it is still an all-consuming occupation that takes its toll physically and mentally.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026
Laveaux began life as a scare actor in 2011 at Universal’s Horror Nights.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 26, 2026
Just then here he came again, scooting along on the game trail, screaming and making enough racket to scare a goblin to death.
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
And October didn’t content itself with those scares.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 30, 2026
Get ready to buy the scares in the coming weeks, investment strategy firm Yardeni Research has advised.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 26, 2026
After securing safety, albeit after a few scares, the club spent more than £300m on summer signings for the first time in their history as they backed De Zerbi to restore them to former glories.
From BBC ● Oct. 24, 2026
Investors moved into safe havens following the tech wobbles and inflation scares.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
My parents move in front of me, and that scares me to my core.
From "The Manifestor Prophecy" by Angie Thomas
“For me, I certainly became very, very scared, and I hid. I locked myself inside so that there were barriers between myself and danger,” she continued, tearing up.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026
But I also feel awful that she’s scared about money.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026
"Who's going to get on a train now? Now you're scared when you do," said Cecilio, who wants such disasters to never happen again.
From Barron's ● Oct. 30, 2026
“It does sound desperate, but it’s also that he’s picking up on something. He knows what voters are scared of—isolation,” Katz said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026
I’m just too scared to tell Grandma I’ve made up my mind.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
Investment in artificial intelligence is driving our economy and the markets but it’s also doing something else … scaring the hell out of people.
From Slate ● Oct. 27, 2026
It’s no secret there’s big business in scaring people: Horror movies are a box office staple, often costing the least to produce and resulting in the biggest profits.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 26, 2026
The picture above was taken by a man who posted on social media about "morons on electric bikes" scaring a nearby horse, external as they rode illegally on public footpaths.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
“They’re scaring people, saying Russia is going to start a war. It’s stupid,” he said, as he walked along the Narva River.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
"Not scaring the girl on her first day, are you?" said a woman as she entered the room.
From "Amal Unbound" by Aisha Saeed
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
