scare

CEFRB1

/skɛə/

verb · noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To make someone feel afraid or suddenly worried.

  2. 02

    noun

    A sudden feeling of fear or worry caused by danger.

Examples

  • Don't make any noise or you'll scare the birds away.

  • Don't scare me like that!

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
3

Also pronounced

  • /skeː/
  • /skiə/

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. A cause of terror or alarm; a panic; something that inspires fear or dread.

  2. A device or object used to frighten.

noun

Extra meaning

  1. A minor fright.

More examples

In context

  • Did it scare you when I said "Boo!"?

  • Johnny had a bad scare last night.

  • a food-poisoning scare

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The loud noise from the explosion will blank the birds, making them fly away in panic.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

From Middle English sker, skere (“terror, fright”), from the verb Middle English skerren (“to frighten”) (see below).