scary
Americanadjective
-
causing fright or alarm.
-
easily frightened; timid.
adjective
-
causing fear or alarm; frightening
-
easily roused to fear; timid
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.
It's quite scary when you think about how young this Manchester City team is.
From BBC • Apr. 20, 2026
Gadd notes that when he was growing up in a small Scottish village, there was an attitude that Glasgow was a "scary" place but that isn't really the case.
From BBC • Apr. 19, 2026
“What’s scary in this scenario is that Belle is a lawyer,” she said.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 17, 2026
In some ways that’s scary, but it could also be “liberating,” he offered.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 11, 2026
He played softly, along with the wind, until after a while that wind didn’t seem so scary, and it actually sounded like a song.
From "I Survived Hurricane Katrina, 2005" by Lauren Tarshis
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.
