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scare

verb · noun · adjective

Simple meaning

To frighten, terrify.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

skehr
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈskɛɹ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. transitive

    To frighten, terrify, startle, especially in a minor way.

noun

  1. A cause of terror or alarm; a panic; something that inspires fear or dread.

  2. A minor fright.

  3. A device or object used to frighten.

adjective

  1. Lean; scanty

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A cause of terror or alarm; a panic; something that inspires fear or dread.

Used this way, scare is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It carries more force than its gentler alternatives. It turns up most in personal or emotional discussion and literature or storytelling contexts.

Emotional tone
Negative
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Strong
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Serious and weighty
Usage feel
Everyday but emotionally strong

Where it naturally appears

  • Personal/emotional discussion
  • Literature/storytelling

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

red scarescare awayscare tacticsbomb scareinvasion scare

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • scare awayverbCompound term

    Cause to lose courage.

  • scare offverbCompound term

    Cause to lose courage.

  • scare quotenounCompound term

    The use of quotation marks to indicate that it is not the authors preferred terminology.

  • bird-scarernounCompound term

    An effigy in the shape of a man to frighten birds away from seeds.

  • red scarenounCompound term

    A period of general fear of communists.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

verb

Sense: to frighten or terrify or startle

affrightArchaicpanicfrightArchaicscare off

noun

Sense: cause of terror or alarm

frightaffrightArchaicpall

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.