scared
[adjective]
Synonyms: frightened, fearful, panicky, panic-stricken, petrified, shaken, startled, terrified

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Antonyms: unafraid, unscared
Contrasted words: emboldened, heartened, reassured, aggressive, bold
Related Words: startled, panicked, panicky, terror-stricken

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English Thesaurus: frightened, scared, afraid, alarmed, fearful, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

scared S3 /skeəd $ skerd/ adjective
[Word Family: adjective: scared, scary; verb: scare; noun: scare]
frightened of something, or nervous about something Synonym : afraid:
At first, he was really scared.
scared of (doing) something
I’ve always been scared of dogs.
Don’t be scared of asking for help.
scared (that)
I wanted to ask her out, but was scared that she might refuse.
scared to do something
The boys were scared to cross the street.
scared stiff/scared to death/scared out of your wits (=extremely frightened)
I was scared stiff at the thought of making a speech.

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Scared is slightly informal. In written English, people usually prefer to use afraid or frightened:
Many generations have been afraid of nuclear power.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

scared
adj.
VERBS be, be running (figurative), feel, look, seem, sound They had their opponent running scared.
get
ADV. dead, downright, extremely, really, shit (taboo), very | a bit, a little, pretty, quite, rather | just, plain He wasn't ill, Sophie decided. He was just plain scared.
PREP. about It's only a little injection. It's nothing to be scared about.
at feeling a little scared at the thought of the operation
of I'm really scared of heights.
PHRASES scared out of your wits, scared stiff (informal), scared to death (informal)

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

scared

very/really scared
By this time I was feeling really scared.
quite scared
Some of the children were quite scared.
a bit/little scared
I was always a little scared of my father.
feel scared
She was beginning to feel a bit scared.
look scared
What’s the matter? You look scared.
get scared (=start to feel scared)
It was now completely dark and I was getting scared.
scared to death (=extremely scared)
He looked scared to death.
scared stiff informal (=extremely scared)
I was scared stiff of going down those cellar steps.
scared witless/out of your wits informal (=extremely scared)
She admitted she was scared witless.
be running scared (=feel scared, especially because someone might catch you or defeat you)
The opposition were running scared.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

frightened feeling worried because you might get hurt or because something bad might happen:
I was too frightened to say anything.
Many animals are frightened of fireworks.
Frightened residents called the police as the gang started throwing bricks.
scared [not before noun] especially spoken frightened. Scared is less formal than frightened and is the usual word to use in everyday English:
I’m scared of dogs.
Old people are too scared to go out of their homes.
afraid [not before noun] frightened. Afraid sounds more formal than frightened or scared:
Children are often afraid of the dark.
I was afraid that I might say the wrong thing.
alarmed frightened and worried that something bad might happen:
She was alarmed at the thought of performing in front of an audience.
Alarmed passengers spotted fuel leaking from the plane.
fearful formal frightened that something bad might happen:
They are fearful of another terrorist attack.
He was fearful that he might make another mistake.
a fearful panic
terrified very frightened:
He looked terrified as the plane took off.
James was absolutely terrified of losing his only child.
He dragged the terrified woman into his car.
petrified very frightened – used especially when you are so frightened that you cannot think or move:
She’s absolutely petrified of spiders.
scared stiff/scared to death informal very frightened:
I had to make a speech, and I was scared stiff.
She was scared to death of her father.
in terror written if you do something in terror, you do it because you are very frightened:
People fled in terror as the building went up in flames.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲