51Թ

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View synonyms for

scare

[ skair ]

verb (used with object)

scared, scaring.
  1. to fill, especially suddenly, with fear or terror; frighten; alarm:

    What scares me most about the disease is the residual effects on the lungs and heart.

    The ducks scared my sister by flying right toward her.

    Synonyms: ,



verb (used without object)

scared, scaring.
  1. to become frightened:

    That horse scares easily.

noun

  1. 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.

  2. 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

  1. 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.

  2. Informal. to obtain with effort; find or gather:

    We want to renovate the kitchen, but first we'll need to scare up some money.

scare

/ ɛə /

verb

  1. to fill or be filled with fear or alarm
  2. tr; often foll by away or off to drive (away) by frightening
  3. informal.
    tr foll by up
    1. to produce (a meal) quickly from whatever is available
    2. to manage to find (something) quickly or with difficulty

      brewers need to scare up more sales

“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

noun

  1. a sudden attack of fear or alarm
  2. a period of general fear or alarm
“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

adjective

  1. causing (needless) fear or alarm

    a scare story

“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
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Derived Forms

  • ˈ, noun
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Other 51Թ Forms

  • · noun
  • ·Բ· adverb
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51Թ History and Origins

Origin of scare1

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
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51Թ History and Origins

Origin of scare1

C12: from Old Norse skirra; related to Norwegian skjerra, Swedish dialect skjarra
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Idioms and Phrases

  • run scared
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Synonym Study

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

The skeleton key to understanding reactionary conservatism is quite simple: they are scared, all the time, of everything.

From

"I was just so scared, so shocked, but I still felt the immense pain on my arms, like, over and over again," the teen told local US media.

From

She described it as a "huge medical scare", and said she had to manage without the world knowing what she was going through.

From

"I couldn't work with male actors. I couldn't do any of the performances. I was scared. I was actually scared someone was going to abuse me."

From

“Now that I’ve played with professionals before, I’m a little less scared,” she said.

From

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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.

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