scare
[verb]
Synonyms:
- frighten, alarm, dismay, intimidate, panic, shock, startle, terrify
[noun]
Synonyms:
- fright, panic, shock, start, terror

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Related Idioms: give a scare to, *scare shitless, strike terror into the heart of, throw a scare into
Related Words: panic, shake up, freeze, paralyze, petrify

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English Thesaurus: fear, terror, fright, panic, alarm, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

I. scare¹ /skeə $ sker/ verb
[Word Family: adjective: scared, scary; verb: scare; noun: scare]
[Date: 1100-1200; Language: Old Norse; Origin: skirra, from skjarr 'shy, fearful']

1. [transitive] to make someone feel frightened Synonym : frighten ⇒ afraid:
Loud noises can scare animals or birds.
scare the life/living daylights/hell etc out of somebody (=scare someone very much)
The alarm scared the hell out of me.
scare the pants off somebody (=scare someone very much)

2. scare easily to be frightened by things that are not very frightening:
I don’t scare easily, you know.
scare somebody into something phrasal verb
to make someone do something by frightening them or threatening them
scare somebody into doing something
You can’t scare me into telling you anything.
scare somebody/something ↔ off/away phrasal verb

1. to make an animal or person go away by frightening them:
She moved quietly to avoid scaring the birds away.

2. to make someone uncertain or worried so that they do not do something they were going to do:
Rising prices are scaring off many potential customers.
scare something ↔ up phrasal verb American English informal
to make something although you have very few things to make it from:
Let me see if I can scare up something for you to eat.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

II. scare² noun
[Word Family: adjective: scared, scary; verb: scare; noun: scare]

1. [singular] a sudden feeling of fear:
You really gave us a scare!

2. [countable] a situation in which a lot of people become frightened about something:
a bomb scare
a health scare

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

scare
noun
ADJ. major, terrible a major health scare
minor | bomb | food, health | Aids, BSE, etc.
VERB + SCARE cause | give sb It wasn't a serious heart attack, but it gave him a terrible scare.
get, have
SCARE + NOUN story, tactics The government used scare tactics to get parents to have their children vaccinated against the disease.
PREP. ~ about/over the scare over British beef
PHRASES a bit of a/quite a scare I got a bit of a scare when the police rang.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

scare
verb
ADV. really | easily He doesn't scare easily.
VERB + SCARE try to
PREP. into They're just trying to scare us into letting out the secret.
with You don't scare me with your threats!
PHRASES scare sb silly/stiff/to death (informal) The very thought of flying scares me stiff.
scare the hell/life/living daylights out of sb (informal) You scared the life out of me, hiding like that!
scare the pants off sb (informal)

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

fear a feeling of being frightened:
He was trembling with fear.
Fear of failure should not stop you trying.
terror a feeling of great fear, because you think that something terrible is about to happen:
She let out a scream of pure terror.
fright a sudden feeling of fear, or a situation that makes you feel this:
My body was shaking with fright.
You gave me a fright!
He’s had a bit of fright, that’s all.
panic a sudden feeling of fear or nervousness that makes you unable to think clearly or behave sensibly:
She was in such a panic that she hardly knew what she was doing!
There were scenes of sheer panic immediately following the bomb blast.
alarm a feeling of fear or worry which shows in your voice or behaviour, because you think something bad might happen:
When I mentioned her name, he looked up at me in alarm.
The streets were calm and there was no sign of alarm.
foreboding /fɔːˈbəʊdɪŋ $ fɔːrˈboʊ-/ a feeling that something bad or unpleasant might happen although there is no obvious reason why it should:
She felt the same sense of foreboding she had before her father died.
phobia /ˈfəʊbiə $ ˈfoʊ-/ a permanent strong unreasonable fear of something:
I had a phobia about going to the dentist.
frighten to make someone feel afraid:
The thought of being in court frightened him.
scare especially spoken to frighten someone. Scare is less formal than frighten, and is the usual word to use in everyday English:
He was driving fast just to scare us.
It scared him to think that his mother might never recover.
terrify to make someone feel extremely frightened:
The idea of going down into the caves terrified her.
Robbers terrified bank staff by threatening them at gunpoint.
give somebody a fright to make someone suddenly feel frightened in a way that makes their heart beat more quickly:
It gave me a terrible fright when I found him unconscious on the floor.
give somebody the creeps if a person or place gives you the creeps, they make you feel slightly frightened because they are strange:
This house gives me the creeps.
startle to frighten someone. Used when you suddenly see someone and did not know they were there, or when you suddenly hear something:
I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.
The noise startled him, and he dropped his glass on the floor.
intimidate to deliberately frighten someone, especially so that they will do what you want:
Many of the gangs were using dogs to intimidate people.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

frighten to make someone feel afraid:
The thought of being in court frightened him.
scare especially spoken to frighten someone. Scare is less formal than frighten, and is the usual word to use in everyday English:
He was driving fast just to scare us.
It scared him to think that his mother might never recover.
terrify to make someone feel extremely frightened:
The idea of going down into the caves terrified her.
Robbers terrified bank staff by threatening them at gunpoint.
give somebody a fright to make someone suddenly feel frightened in a way that makes their heart beat more quickly:
It gave me a terrible fright when I found him unconscious on the floor.
give somebody the creeps if a person or place gives you the creeps, they make you feel slightly frightened because they are strange:
This house gives me the creeps.
startle to frighten someone. Used when you suddenly see someone and did not know they were there, or when you suddenly hear something:
I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.
The noise startled him, and he dropped his glass on the floor.
alarm to make someone feel frightened and worried that something bad might happen:
I didn’t want to alarm her by calling in the middle of the night.
intimidate to deliberately frighten someone, especially so that they will do what you want:
Many of the gangs were using dogs to intimidate people.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲