scary
Americanadjective
-
causing fright or alarm.
-
easily frightened; timid.
adjective
-
causing fear or alarm; frightening
-
easily roused to fear; timid
Other Word Forms
Adjective Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of scary
Explanation
If something is scary, it makes you afraid, or scared. Horror films — scary movies — are a very popular genre. Apparently people like to be frightened. Scary is more a more casual way to say "frightening," and you can also use it to describe something that's just bizarre or odd or exceptional: you've become such a good golfer, it's scary; or, you cleaned up you room so fast, it's scary. Note that there is no "e" in scary, even though the verb to scare ends in one.
Vocabulary lists containing scary
Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Suffixes: -y
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"Leapin' Lizards! Is That a Real Dragon?"
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Unit 18, Lesson 1
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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:
“We see shadow figures … there’s a certain area where they pass back and forth. They don’t do anything, but they’re scary as hell,” Kobliha says of unusual sightings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
But it only measures implied volatility for the broad S&P 500 over the coming 30 days and only tends to signal danger after something scary has happened.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
"They're saying it's going to be huge; of course that's scary, right?"
From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026
London City will naturally benefit the most and it is a scary prospect for their rivals as Kang continues to show ambition and provide funds.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
It’s scary when two men in official jackets stare you down.
From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller
What seems scarier: the body going or the mind going?
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
Of course, a skeptic is going to tell these Knicks that their opponents have been lousy, and what’s coming—the winner of a tense Western Conference Final between San Antonio and Oklahoma City—is far scarier.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 26, 2026
On the scarier side, Wright says there's another place we can already see the combination of robotics and agentic AI: battlefield drones.
From BBC ● Apr. 7, 2026
How do you make a film scary when every waking day is scarier?
From Salon ● Mar. 29, 2026
“Trust me. The older you get, the scarier the world gets to be.”
From "Stella by Starlight" by Sharon M. Draper
"And the scariest thing is for the children. My children are just very afraid."
From Barron's ● Jul. 9, 2026
One of the scariest things that haunted me as a child was TV’s “The Twilight Zone.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026
Without my boyfriend’s paycheck buffering our vibes-based accounting, it was time to face the scariest part of managing your money: the spending audit.
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 31, 2026
“I was 24, and I did the scariest thing at the time possible,” Boston said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 27, 2026
“It’s the scariest thing I’ve ever thought of!”
From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste
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.
