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
At halftime of the CIF San Diego Section Division 5-AA boys basketball finals against Liberty Charter on Thursday night, the Crusaders were staring at a 10-point deficit.
—
Don Norcross, San Diego Union-Tribune, 27 Feb. 2026
At the Park Retirement Home on Miami Beach’s Ocean Drive, fragile-looking elderly residents sit in lawn chairs, staring at the beach and waiting out the day.
—Miami Herald Archives, Miami Herald, 27 Feb. 2026
Usually in these situations, the person being interviewed is staring stoically into the camera so, to be fair, this did seem more natural.
—Mike Ryan, IndieWire, 27 Feb. 2026
James is staring into the middle distance while Luka pounds the air out of the Spalding for twenty seconds per possession.
—Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 27 Feb. 2026
Time and again, for about six months, Katharine was left with her invisible film staring back at her.
—Natalia Sánchez Loayza, Scientific American, 26 Feb. 2026
Beneath it, a man squatted on the pavement, staring at nothing in particular, a glass pipe drooping from his fingers.
—Sam Kriss, Harpers Magazine, 24 Feb. 2026
And the part no one wants to hear while staring at a stagnant ROI dashboard is that this isn’t a tech failure.
—May Habib, Fortune, 24 Feb. 2026
In the photo the beleaguered president is pinned against the elevator’s back wall, shoulders hunched, arms crossed, eyes staring downward.
—Steven Levingston, Vanity Fair, 23 Feb. 2026
Don Norcross, San Diego Union-Tribune, 27 Feb. 2026
At the Park Retirement Home on Miami Beach’s Ocean Drive, fragile-looking elderly residents sit in lawn chairs, staring at the beach and waiting out the day.
—Miami Herald Archives, Miami Herald, 27 Feb. 2026
Usually in these situations, the person being interviewed is staring stoically into the camera so, to be fair, this did seem more natural.
—Mike Ryan, IndieWire, 27 Feb. 2026
James is staring into the middle distance while Luka pounds the air out of the Spalding for twenty seconds per possession.
—Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 27 Feb. 2026
Time and again, for about six months, Katharine was left with her invisible film staring back at her.
—Natalia Sánchez Loayza, Scientific American, 26 Feb. 2026
Beneath it, a man squatted on the pavement, staring at nothing in particular, a glass pipe drooping from his fingers.
—Sam Kriss, Harpers Magazine, 24 Feb. 2026
And the part no one wants to hear while staring at a stagnant ROI dashboard is that this isn’t a tech failure.
—May Habib, Fortune, 24 Feb. 2026
In the photo the beleaguered president is pinned against the elevator’s back wall, shoulders hunched, arms crossed, eyes staring downward.
—Steven Levingston, Vanity Fair, 23 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for staring
Verb
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And after a long day of trekking, there’s nothing so restorative as a dip in the opulent bathtub, fringed by bricks of pink salt from Pakistan, while gazing out at the Nilgiri glowing ethereally in the dusk.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
27 Feb. 2026
-
Standing under a starry sky, gazing up at the wonder of the cosmos, is a foundational human experience and one that has shaped our storytelling and cultures for millennia.—
Megan Eaves,
Outside,
20 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
On a typical day, the Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center in Scottsdale reverberates with animal cries and the footfalls of gawking visitors.—
Shi En Kim,
AZCentral.com,
20 Feb. 2026
-
Armed soldiers patrolled in droves, spreading hate and fear everywhere, blindfolding children, pointing guns, gawking, spitting, laughing at us like animals in the zoo.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
20 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Staring.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/staring. Accessed 4 Mar. 2026.
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