stare
Americanverb (used without object)
-
stares,
present (3rd person singular)
-
stared,
past participle, past
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staring
present participle
-
to gaze fixedly and intently, especially with the eyes wide open.
-
to be boldly or obtrusively conspicuous.
The bright modern painting stares out at you in the otherwise conservative gallery.
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to be patently or compellingly obvious.
The stark, staring fact is, you can't do something with nothing.
-
(of hair, feathers, etc.) to stick out or stand on end; bristle.
Both male and female pheasants are rough-footed and have staring feathers around the head and neck.
verb (used with object)
-
stares,
present (3rd person singular)
-
stared,
past participle, past
-
staring
present participle
-
to stare at.
to stare a person up and down.
-
to effect or have a certain effect on by staring.
They all laughed at me and stared me into silence.
noun
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stares
plural
verb phrase
idioms
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stare (something) in the face, to confront or be confronted by (something unpleasant).
The company is staring bankruptcy in the face.
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stare one in the face,
-
(especially of something undesirable) to be patently or compellingly obvious.
Sounds like a far-fetched theory, but when the evidence is staring you in the face, you have to take notice.
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to be urgent or impending; be about to happen.
The income tax deadline is staring us in the face.
-
-
staring down the barrel of,
-
having (a firearm) aimed at one, especially at close range.
He turned his head and found himself staring down the barrel of a rifle.
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facing (a threat, challenging situation, or imminent disaster).
Motorists are staring down the barrel of a major hike in the price of fuel.
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verb
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to look or gaze fixedly, often with hostility or rudeness
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(intr) (of an animal's fur, bird's feathers, etc) to stand on end because of fear, ill health, etc
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(intr) to stand out as obvious; glare
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to be glaringly obvious or imminent
noun
noun
Synonym Usage
See gaze.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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staresimple
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staressimple
-
have staredperfect
-
has staredperfect
-
am staringprogressive
-
are staringprogressive
-
is staringprogressive
-
have been staringperfect progressive
-
has been staringperfect progressive
Past
-
staredsimple
-
had staredperfect
-
was staringprogressive
-
were staringprogressive
-
had been staringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of stare
First recorded before 900; Middle English staren, Old English starian; cognate with Dutch staren, German starren, Old Norse stara; akin to stark, starve
Explanation
To stare is to fix your eyes on a subject. As hard as it might be to resist looking at them for long periods of time, it's not polite to stare at celebrities. The noun stare is a certain kind of gaze — a long, intense one. The verb to stare is the act of staring, of locking one's eyes somewhere. When one stares at something, one looks at it for a long period of time, often with great intensity and without blinking. That's why one loses a staring contest when one blinks. Try not to stare at people when they're eating. It's rude! A stare is usually more intense and creepier than a gaze.
Vocabulary lists containing stare
Beowulf vocabulary
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Now See Here: Words For Looking
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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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:
After reading the memo for a third time, I drop my phone on my desk and stare out the window.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
"If we couldn't figure out something, we'd stare out the window until it came to us, and I think we're nostalgic for a time like that."
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
Men also stare when Rosales brings her partner to these industrial spaces.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
Taken at a gangster party in City Terrace in 1996, the author and her big sister Maria stare stone-faced, as if daring us to read.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
But she was difficult to watch because that big eye of hers always caught me with a cold stare that made me shiver.
From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff
Set between 2019 and 2021, Sorkin’s film stares down the dawn of a new decade, preparing for the birth of our current web of chaos, cruelty and thinly veiled deceit.
From Salon ● Oct. 11, 2026
A boy from Watts stares at the ocean, imagining ancient Greek boats sailing across the Pacific and his father in a toga and sneakers, proudly hoisting a trident.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
“Sometimes he just sits and stares into space,” she said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026
Elsewhere in Washington, the now-defunct US Institute of Peace was renamed after Trump, and his face stares down from huge banners outside the Department of Justice and Department of Agriculture.
From Barron's ● Jun. 24, 2026
She stares at me for a few seconds.
From "Popcorn" by Rob Harrell
Trying to avoid frightening his children, he silently stared into the camera to show the hackers he knew about them and then unplugged the camera.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026
In 2000, he stared alongside American actress Kathleen Turner in the West End production of The Graduate.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
Instead, I picked around fish bones and stared at the mess I had made behind me.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2026
I lay on my back and stared at a bright blue painted sky, dappled with puffy clouds.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
I stared at the brief typed words where Lieutenant Rahms’s finger rested.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
The real problem with smartphone use may not be how many hours people spend staring at their screens.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2026
No one sits staring mournfully at the bare lacquered table.
From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2026
You didn’t need nine hours of talk radio to absorb it: These Patriots were overrated, these Patriots were regressing, these Patriots were staring at a season they could be worse than the freaking Jets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
Before a first down play from the Cleveland 20-yard line, Rodgers could be seen staring at the Pittsburgh sideline with his arms spread out, apparently waiting to receive the play from McCarthy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
At his side, Harry scanned the tables, her attention catching on a table of people so engrossed in their game that they didn’t notice the girl staring at them just a few feet away.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
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.
