scare
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
noun
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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.
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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
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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
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to fill or be filled with fear or alarm
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(tr; often foll by away or off) to drive (away) by frightening
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informal (tr) (foll by up)
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to produce (a meal) quickly from whatever is available
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to manage to find (something) quickly or with difficulty
brewers need to scare up more sales
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noun
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a sudden attack of fear or alarm
-
a period of general fear or alarm
adjective
Related Words
See frighten.
Other Word Forms
- scarer noun
- scaringly adverb
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
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.
“People are really scared,” said a retired oil executive who packed his bags and fled for his villa on the Caspian Sea after watching missiles flying over Tehran.
“War obviously has the potential to scare away the investors and tourists who are increasingly central to the economic ambitions of Gulf states,” said Ratney, the former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
Read on: Private-credit ‘cockroaches’ and the AI ‘scare trade’ hammered stocks in February.
From MarketWatch
So how does the latest edition, Resident Evil Requiem - released to excited fans worldwide on Friday - keep the scares feeling surprising three decades on?
From BBC
He recalls Wilson looking like a “scared rabbit” when he walked into the studio to find some of the session musicians who’d worked with the Beach Boys back in the old days.
From Los Angeles Times
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.
