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
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
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 staring
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
The ball moved independent of his eyes, as if controlled by two of its own, flying just over the head of the linebacker staring at Williams and into the arms of Davante Adams for a 29-yard gain.
—Nate Atkins, New York Times, 3 Nov. 2025
There’s a picture of me, not quite a year old, in a blue sailor suit and a red ribbon tied around my neck, staring avidly at a picture book.
—Literary Hub, 3 Nov. 2025
Recipes from Valencia took me back to an afternoon lounging in the lawns near The City of Arts and Sciences, staring at orange trees, plucking pieces of rabbit from paella with my fingers, and swirling toast into olive oil.
—Jamila Robinson, Bon Appetit Magazine, 31 Oct. 2025
That left employees staring for a few minutes at the bright red Target bullseye logo on the call’s background while the issue was being resolved, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified discussing internal matters.
—Dave Smith, Fortune, 30 Oct. 2025
Rufus gathers from the firefighters that a gas main probably exploded while Mark captures, in his phone, the image of a man hovering by the accident, staring intently ahead like a ghost.
—Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 29 Oct. 2025
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
The ball moved independent of his eyes, as if controlled by two of its own, flying just over the head of the linebacker staring at Williams and into the arms of Davante Adams for a 29-yard gain.
—Nate Atkins, New York Times, 3 Nov. 2025
There’s a picture of me, not quite a year old, in a blue sailor suit and a red ribbon tied around my neck, staring avidly at a picture book.
—Literary Hub, 3 Nov. 2025
Recipes from Valencia took me back to an afternoon lounging in the lawns near The City of Arts and Sciences, staring at orange trees, plucking pieces of rabbit from paella with my fingers, and swirling toast into olive oil.
—Jamila Robinson, Bon Appetit Magazine, 31 Oct. 2025
That left employees staring for a few minutes at the bright red Target bullseye logo on the call’s background while the issue was being resolved, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified discussing internal matters.
—Dave Smith, Fortune, 30 Oct. 2025
Rufus gathers from the firefighters that a gas main probably exploded while Mark captures, in his phone, the image of a man hovering by the accident, staring intently ahead like a ghost.
—Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 29 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for staring
Verb
-
The camera then zooms out to show that the athlete is actually inside of a snow globe, which the pop star has been gazing into and shaking.—
Hannah Dailey,
Billboard,
6 Nov. 2025
-
But gazing at the field of red clay just feet away from his front door gives him the feeling that Charlotte’s growth is climbing on top of him.—
Charlotte Observer,
Charlotte Observer,
3 Nov. 2025
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 19 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share