as in to gaze
to look long and hard in wonder or surprise
her friends stared in disbelief upon seeing her walking arm in arm with her ex-husband
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in gaze
a fixed intent look
caught the child's wide-eyed stare on film
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of stare
Allegra Goodman, Literary Hub, 11 Feb. 2026
For households staring at winter statements, that means this season’s painful bills are less an aberration than an early look at a more expensive era of electricity, where volatility around an already higher baseline becomes the new normal.
—Ashley Lutz, Fortune, 10 Feb. 2026
Christopher Borrelli, Chicago Tribune, 10 Feb. 2026
In these 2-foot-square pictures, long-haired nude female figures in close Edenic companionship with wild beasts poke their heads out from behind lush tropical foliage, and stare, unsettlingly, straight outward.
—Benjamin Lima, Dallas Morning News, 5 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for stare
Verb
Shawn started up and saw Jeanne staring at him from her bed.
—Allegra Goodman, Literary Hub, 11 Feb. 2026
For households staring at winter statements, that means this season’s painful bills are less an aberration than an early look at a more expensive era of electricity, where volatility around an already higher baseline becomes the new normal.
—Ashley Lutz, Fortune, 10 Feb. 2026
Noun
Indeed, compared with the realistically creased faces and hangdog stares of the Cubs, the Boston fans behind them are closer to grotesques, an inhuman crush of caricatures.
—Christopher Borrelli, Chicago Tribune, 10 Feb. 2026
In these 2-foot-square pictures, long-haired nude female figures in close Edenic companionship with wild beasts poke their heads out from behind lush tropical foliage, and stare, unsettlingly, straight outward.
—Benjamin Lima, Dallas Morning News, 5 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for stare
Recent Examples of Synonyms for stare
Verb
-
Whitney is gazing into the middle distance, contemplating a runner on a Lithuanian passport, when Ferdinand blows the world of season four apart.—
Amanda Whiting,
Vulture,
16 Feb. 2026
-
Anna Karina, the star, gazes off to the left.—
Anthony Lane,
New Yorker,
16 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
Setting aside the gawking nature of certain style choices (the warped, swiveling, 360-degree shots used when someone starts talking about particularly demented ideas are nauseating on multiple levels), the series too closely mirrors its subjects’ insularity.—
Ben Travers,
IndieWire,
13 Feb. 2026
-
Bystanders gawk and cheer from the sidewalks.—
Shirley Li,
The Atlantic,
5 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Stare.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stare. Accessed 21 Feb. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
