scare

UK:**UK and possibly other pronunciationsUK and possibly other pronunciations/ˈskɛər/US:USA pronunciation: IPA and respellingUSA pronunciation: IPA/skɛr/ ,USA pronunciation: respelling(skâr)

Inflections of 'scare' (v): (⇒ conjugate)
scares
v 3rd person singular
scaring
v pres p
scared
v past
scared
v past p

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
scare /skɛr/USA pronunciation   v., scared, scar•ing, n. 
v. 
  1. to fill (someone), esp. suddenly, with fear;
    frighten: [~ + object]Something scared her. She isn't scared easily.[It + ~ + object + clause]It really scared me when she stopped breathing.
  2. to become frightened:[no object]She doesn't scare easily.
  3. scare off or away, to frighten (someone) enough to cause him or her to run off: [~ + off/away + object]We scared off the thief.[~ + object + off/away]scared the thief away.
  4. scare up, to find in spite of difficulties: [~ + up + object]Try to scare up some wood for the fire.[~ + object + up]to scare some wood up for a fire.

n. [countable]
  1. a sudden fright or alarm:We got quite a scare when she stopped breathing.
  2. a time or condition of alarm or worry:a war scare.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026
scare  (skâr),USA pronunciation v., scared, scar•ing, n. 
v.t. 
  1. to fill, esp. suddenly, with fear or terror;
    frighten;
    alarm.

v.i. 
  1. to become frightened:That horse scares easily.
  2. scare up, [Informal.]to obtain with effort;
    find or gather:to scare up money.

n. 
  1. a sudden fright or alarm, esp. with little or no reason.
  2. a time or condition of alarm or worry:For three months there was a war scare.
  • Old Norse skirra to frighten, derivative of skjarr timid, shy; (noun, nominal) late Middle English skere, derivative of the verb, verbal
  • (verb, verbal) Middle English skerren 1150–1200
scar′er, n. 
scar′ing•ly, adv. 
    1. startle, intimidate. See frighten. 
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
scare /skɛə/ vb
  1. to fill or be filled with fear or alarm
  2. (transitive; often followed by away or off) to drive (away) by frightening
  3. (transitive; followed by up) US Canadian informal
    • to produce (a meal) quickly from whatever is available
    • to manage to find (something) quickly or with difficulty: brewers need to scare up more sales
 n
  1. a sudden attack of fear or alarm
  2. a period of general fear or alarm
 adj
  1. causing (needless) fear or alarm: a scare story
Etymology: 12th Century: from Old Norse skirra; related to Norwegian skjerra, Swedish dialect skjarraˈscarer n
'scare' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
daylights - frighten - harum-scarum - intimidate - pants - scarecrow - beat - callithump - cow - dismay - gally - living - Oates - scarehead - scaremonger - scary - scunner - shoo - spook - startle
Collocations: scare a [child, friend, cat], you don't scare me, you scared me!, more...

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