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
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
After the appendicitis scare, the British Broadcasting Corporation invited him to London to appear on a show called Chess Treasury of the Air, and he spent about ten days in England.
From "Endgame" by Frank Brady
Rufus also scares pigeons away from Westminster Abbey and Lord's Cricket Ground, among other sites.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
“Widow’s Bay” has its share of jump scares, but for the most part, its frights are bearable and its symbols are heavier on text as opposed to subtext.
From Salon ● Jun. 18, 2026
The only thing that scares it is high expectations.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 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
The sudden sight of her clean and functioning almost scares me.
From "I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter" by Erika L. Sánchez
"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
"But after this incident I feel scared, I don't feel like I know this version of Glasgow."
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 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
“We were scared to death to do it, but he convinced us that he was able to do it,” Sherry Kent says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2026
“All of this. Remember when I said I wanted to get rid of you because I was scared? That was true… but it wasn’t the full truth.”
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
Fuel shortages and economic turmoil are scaring away foreign visitors.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 6, 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
StepChange said this was counterproductive, scaring people who can't, rather than won't, pay.
From BBC ● Mar. 22, 2026
“You’re scaring me now, Seven. Stop fooling around!”
From "Witchlings" by Claribel A. Ortega
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.
