STARING Synonyms: 34 Similar and Opposite Words

staring

verb

present participle of stare

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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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 The Knicks, staring basketball death in eye-to-eye, closed the third quarter on a 25-11 run. —

Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News, 4 June 2026 Arredondo refused, staring at the man with tears welling up in his eyes. —

Maria Aguilar Prieto, CNN Money, 4 June 2026 In the distance, a girl or young woman seems to be staring at you. —

Thomas Lake, AJC.com, 4 June 2026 The slot formerly occupied by Bret Michaels will be taken by Stephen Miller standing silently and staring until the hairs stand up on the back of your neck and the very air around you curdles. —

Alexandra Petri, The Atlantic, 3 June 2026 In another Amsterdam photo, a pair of identical world globes, recalling Ghirri’s passion for cartography and atlases, rest on matching supports to conjure that oldest of surrealist tropes, a pair of staring eyes. —

James Quandt, Artforum, 2 June 2026 Drop the reference now and some of the old heads will nod and smile knowingly, before staring into some far-off place as awful memories of what once was play in their minds. —

Joshua Kloke, New York Times, 2 June 2026 The season's penultimate scene finds Carl at his favorite haunt, sipping his morning coffee while somberly staring at his tiny Tom Ruffage diorama figure. —

Matt Cabral, Entertainment Weekly, 1 June 2026 Instead, The Mandalorian and Grogu is staring at a third-place finish behind writer-director Curry Barker’s Obsession. —

Tim Lammers, Forbes.com, 29 May 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for staring

Verb

Spieth was one year removed from his third major victory at age 24, and Brown was 10, gazing up at his golfing idol in awe — the wunderkind speaking to a soon-to-be sensation in his own right.

— Gabby Herzig, New York Times, 2 June 2026
As a scorching wind tears across the barren, rocky slopes of Komote Island off the shore of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya, Alfred Lenkutuk sits in the meager shelter of his hut, gazing out over the village where he was born and remembering better times.

— Tommy Trenchard, NPR, 31 May 2026