scare
4 ENTRIES FOUND:
scares;
scared;
scaring
scares;
scared;
scaring
Britannica Dictionary definition of SCARE
1
[+ object]
:
to cause (someone) to become afraid
:
frighten
-
You scared me. I didn't see you there.
-
Stop that, you're scaring the children.
-
The loud noise scared them. = They were scared by the loud noise.
-
You nearly scared me to death. [=you scared me very much]
2
[no object]
:
to become afraid
-
I don't scare easily.
scare away/off
[phrasal verb]
scare (someone or something) away/off
or
scare away/off (someone or something)
:
to cause (someone or something) to go away and stay away because of fear or because of possible trouble, difficulty, etc.
-
The dog scared the prowler away.
-
The noise scared off the birds.
-
Tourists have been scared off by the recent violence in the city. [=tourists have not visited the city because of the recent violence there]
-
She finally found a man who's not scared away by the fact that she is a single mom raising two children.
scare into
[phrasal verb]
scare (someone) into (something)
:
to cause (someone) to do (something) because of fear
-
The police scared him into confessing his crime.
-
They tried to scare us into buying more insurance.
scare up
[phrasal verb]
scare (someone or something) up
or
scare up (someone or something)
US, informal
:
to find or get (someone or something) with some difficulty
-
We managed to scare up [=scrape up] the money.
-
Let's try to scare up some people to play football.
2
scare
/ˈskeɚ/
noun
plural
scares
2
scare
/ˈskeɚ/
noun
plural
scares
Britannica Dictionary definition of SCARE
[count]
1
:
a sudden feeling of fear
-
You gave me (quite) a scare. [=you scared me]
-
She had a pregnancy scare. [=she was afraid she was pregnant]
2
:
a situation in which a lot of people become afraid because of some threat, danger, etc.
-
There have been scares about the water supply being contaminated.
-
a bomb scare [=a situation in which people are afraid because someone says that a bomb is going to explode]
— scare
adjective, always used before a noun-
a scare story about a possible epidemic
-
They used scare tactics to teach their children not to smoke cigarettes.
