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Nearby words

starch-reduced, starched, starchy, stardom, stardust, stare, stare decisis, stare down, stare in the face, stare out, starets

Idioms

    stare one in the face, to be urgent or impending; confront: The income-tax deadline is staring us in the face.

Origin of stare

before 900; Middle English staren, Old English starian; cognate with Dutch staren, German starren, Old Norse stara; akin to stark, starve
SYNONYMS FOR stare
1 See gaze.
Related formsstar·er, nounstar·ing·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

British Dictionary definitions for stare in the face (1 of 2)

stare

1
/ (stɛə) /

verb

(intr often foll by at) to look or gaze fixedly, often with hostility or rudeness
(intr) (of an animal's fur, bird's feathers, etc) to stand on end because of fear, ill health, etc
(intr) to stand out as obvious; glare
stare one in the face to be glaringly obvious or imminent

noun

the act or an instance of staring
Derived Formsstarer, noun

Word Origin for stare

Old English starian; related to Old Norse stara, Old High German starēn to stare, Greek stereos stiff, Latin consternāre to confuse

British Dictionary definitions for stare in the face (2 of 2)

stare

2
/ (stɛə) /

noun

dialect a starling

Word Origin for stare

Old English stær
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Idioms and Phrases with stare in the face

stare in the face

Also, look in the face. Be glaringly obvious, although initially overlooked, as in The solution to the problem had been staring me in the face all along, or I wouldn't know a Tibetan terrier if it looked me in the face. [Late 1600s]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.