Verb
You scared me. I didn't see you there.
Stop that, you're scaring the children. Noun
There have been scares about the water supply being contaminated.
fired over their heads in order to throw a scare into them
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Verb
Guadalajara will be hosting matches this summer, in what’s expected to be an economic boon for the state of Jalisco, and Sheinbaum will no doubt be wary of scaring off would-be tourists.—Gonzalo Zegarra, CNN Money, 24 Feb. 2026 Meridian Police Chief Tracy Basterrechea said during a press conference shortly after the incident that responding agencies apparently scared off the suspect before the accelerant was ignited.—ABC News, 24 Feb. 2026
Noun
The Heat has maintained a good relationship with Bosh but also had no information on the nature of his health scare.—Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald, 25 Feb. 2026 When Hollywood faced a similar scare in late 2025 from an AI video generator created by OpenAI, unions, studios, and talent agencies banded together to push for changes, including the signing of licensing deals.—The Week Us, TheWeek, 24 Feb. 2026 See All Example Sentences for scare
Word History
Etymology
Verb
Middle English skerren, from Old Norse skirra, from skjarr shy, timid