jump scare

noun

variants or less commonly jump-scare

ˈjəmp-ˌsker 

or jumpscare

plural jump scares also jump-scares or jumpscares

: a scripted moment (as in a film or video game) intended to startle the audience

The biggest jolts in "The Omen" … come from conventionally staged jump scares, where a nasty image suddenly flashes on the screen accompanied by a startling sound effect.

—Li Wang

… differentiates itself from other VR [=virtual reality] horror games by not resorting to cheap jump-scares, instead flexing its brilliant visuals to build an atmospheric sense of foreboding.

—Chris Button

Examples of jump scare in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Just their presence alone is more frightening than any jump scare. —Ew Staff, EW.com, 15 July 2024

Perkins understands that jump scares are but one of the pleasures of a successful horror movie (same goes for shotgun-toting figures creeping just out of focus in the background). —Peter Debruge, Variety, 6 July 2024

This adds to the suspense and leads to very loud, startling jump scares that could be too much for some young children to handle. —Benjamin Vanhoose, Peoplemag, 28 June 2024

These unsettling images appear in our social media feeds, sometimes as a jump scare, and sometimes as a Trojan horse. —Maura Judkis, Washington Post, 30 June 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1986, in the meaning defined above