scare

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA ^(key): /skɛə/
• (US) IPA ^(key): /skɛɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

Plain form scare

Third-person singular scares

Past tense scared

Past participle scared

Present participle scaring

depiction of a puppet scaring (sense 1) a child

1. (transitive) If someone or something scares a person, it makes them feel fear.

   They climbed out of the water alive--cold, wet, tired, and scared to death, but alive.

   Granny used to scare the hell out of us kids with her ghost stories.

   I read once that you can scare away a bear if you wave your arms and look big.

   Dark scares me. Noise scares me. And guns scare me.

2. If something scares a person off, it makes them not want to do something.

   The high costs often scare students off.

3. If a person scares up something, they find it, even though it's rare or hard to find.

   She didn't think she'd be able to scare up the cash for the trip.

Synonyms

• worry

Related words

• scared
• scary

Noun

Singular scare

Plural scares

1. (countable) A sudden fright.

   I had quite a bad scare last night--I almost hit a deer on the highway.