as in gazing
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
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Recent Examples of staring
Below-average play is often staring you right in the face while catastrophe lurks around the corner.
—
Matt Schneidman, New York Times, 7 Jan. 2026
The face in question, below, involves Sherman staring with her mouth agape.
—Lauren Huff, Entertainment Weekly, 6 Jan. 2026
Except a dead boy’s face in a bed in a dark room staring at him.
—Rosa Lyster, Harpers Magazine, 6 Jan. 2026
Multiple outlets are reporting that CU’s staring at a potential budget deficit of roughly $27 million for the fiscal period that ends June 30.
—Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 6 Jan. 2026
The other equally stunning images show the Ross seal gliding through the water and staring into the ocean.
—Rachel Raposas, PEOPLE, 6 Jan. 2026
A lot of these schools are staring at declining enrollments, so money is tight on college campuses.
—Dana Taylor, USA Today, 11 Nov. 2025
And then on Thursday, after most of the show had been written, a man collapsed in the Oval Office, generating an instantly meme-able photograph of the president staring into the camera, looking oblivious to efforts to revive the prone victim at stage left.
—Erik Adams, The Atlantic, 9 Nov. 2025
The video teaser Chrli shared features eerie, horror film–like sound effects and the haunting sound of violins as Charli is pinned down by an elderly hand while staring directly into the camera.
—Tomás Mier, Rolling Stone, 6 Nov. 2025
Matt Schneidman, New York Times, 7 Jan. 2026
The face in question, below, involves Sherman staring with her mouth agape.
—Lauren Huff, Entertainment Weekly, 6 Jan. 2026
Except a dead boy’s face in a bed in a dark room staring at him.
—Rosa Lyster, Harpers Magazine, 6 Jan. 2026
Multiple outlets are reporting that CU’s staring at a potential budget deficit of roughly $27 million for the fiscal period that ends June 30.
—Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 6 Jan. 2026
The other equally stunning images show the Ross seal gliding through the water and staring into the ocean.
—Rachel Raposas, PEOPLE, 6 Jan. 2026
A lot of these schools are staring at declining enrollments, so money is tight on college campuses.
—Dana Taylor, USA Today, 11 Nov. 2025
And then on Thursday, after most of the show had been written, a man collapsed in the Oval Office, generating an instantly meme-able photograph of the president staring into the camera, looking oblivious to efforts to revive the prone victim at stage left.
—Erik Adams, The Atlantic, 9 Nov. 2025
The video teaser Chrli shared features eerie, horror film–like sound effects and the haunting sound of violins as Charli is pinned down by an elderly hand while staring directly into the camera.
—Tomás Mier, Rolling Stone, 6 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for staring
Verb
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After LaRavia made 10 of 11 shots to introduce himself to fans and Minnesota star Anthony Edwards, the Lakers’ general manager splashed a photo of LaRavia gazing out of a window on the front page of a faux newspaper and printed it on a black T-shirt.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
6 Jan. 2026
-
In the touching clip, the pair embraced each other while gazing at a sunny, scenic view.—
Escher Walcott,
PEOPLE,
6 Jan. 2026
Verb
-
Here, astronomers are gawking at a radio signal that appears crudely on the screen like a crooked game of Pong but turns out to be a line of data repeated every 78 seconds from 600 light-years away.—
Scott Tobias,
Vulture,
7 Nov. 2025
-
But the cringe-comedy antics of the original NBC series landed far better in Season 3 than in Season 1, once audiences began to truly love the characters instead of just gawking at them.—
Kelly Lawler,
USA Today,
3 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Staring.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/staring. Accessed 11 Jan. 2026.
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