scaring

verb

present participle of scare
as in frightening
to strike with fear thunderstorms have always scared her

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 scaring Be a menace to people in the community, driving his boat 70 to 80 miles per hour, driving around scaring the heck out of people, taking people's lives. — Lauren Victory, CBS News, 6 Aug. 2026 Notably, the research shows that pumas contribute most to decreased deer-vehicle collisions by scaring their prey, and not killing them, highlights Mark Elbroch, director of the Puma Program for Panthera and also a study co-author. — Margherita Bassi, Popular Science, 5 Aug. 2026 The dangers of taking a dog out off-leash The danger isn’t just scaring people who might have a fear of dogs; having your dog off-leash can lead to even more dangerous consequences. — Tanya Edwards, USA Today, 1 Aug. 2026 Dogs, in particular, appear to be effective in scaring geese. — Mark Vrtiska, The Conversation, 30 July 2026 While movies may no longer be playing in the wider universe, at least our video games are taking us there and then scaring us out of our space boots. — Matthew Razak, Space.com, 26 July 2026 More harassment, then eviction Within a year of his release, Henrichsen had returned to harassing and scaring his neighbors, according to a request for a restraining order filed in May 2023. — Andrew Graham, Sacbee.com, 23 July 2026 For the past 18 months, soaring brisket and rib prices have forced Pig-Sty BBQ in Boynton Beach to walk a pricing tightrope, covering expenses without scaring away customers. — Phillip Valys, Sun Sentinel, 16 July 2026 In an article for Marie Claire, Rapinoe trotted out several common left-wing talking points aimed at scaring rational-thinking people into believing that keeping males out of women's sports is somehow bad for girls and women. — Dan Zaksheske Outkick, FOXNews.com, 14 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for scaring
  1. frightening
  2. terrifying
  3. spooking
  4. startling
Verb
  • Powell tried to open the stall door, and then began fondling himself, frightening the 11-year-old, who tried to leave, but Powell blocked him from getting out.
    — Todd Feurer, CBS News, 6 June 2026
  • This war has been a disaster for them, frightening away foreign investors, tourists and talent and burdening them with a future of huge new defense bills to deter Iran after the United States is gone.
    — Thomas L. Friedman, Mercury News, 15 May 2026
Definition of frightening
Verb
  • Spotify is terrifying much of the podcast industry with a tiny little widget.
    — Max Tani, semafor.com, 9 Aug. 2026
  • What for decades seemed a hypothetical problem to be solved at some later date is suddenly a concrete, terrifying one for today.
    — Stephen Witt, New Yorker, 30 July 2026
Definition of terrifying
Verb
  • At the same time, China’s auto industry is spooking established automakers in North America, Europe and Asia, according to AlixPartners.
    — Bill Koenig, Forbes.com, 25 June 2026
  • Soon, representatives of the security services began spooking entrepreneurs with public attacks, interrogations, and arrests.
    — Bozorgmehr Sharafedin, The Atlantic, 1 June 2026
Definition of spooking
Verb
  • Last week, an F/A-18 Super Hornet from the Blue Angels, the Navy’s flight-demonstration team, zoomed dangerously low along the Florida coast, stirring up sand and umbrellas, startling some beachgoers—and, it must be said, delighting many others.
    — Missy Ryan, The Atlantic, 22 July 2026
  • Cortlandt Koerwitz/Instagram A family's Fourth of July outing took a frightening turn when a bear charged at a father outside his Lake Tahoe vacation home after startling his daughters.
    — Shafiq Najib, ABC News, 9 July 2026
Definition of startling

Browse Nearby Words

scariness
scaring
scaring up
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Scaring.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scaring. Accessed 16 Aug. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on scaring

Nglish: Translation of scaring for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of zeugma

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

7 Pairs of Commonly Confused Words

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

The Words of the Week - Aug. 14

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
image of a green cube out of place in a lineup of red spheres
Odd Word Out: Synonyms Vol. 2 Quiz Figure out which word isn't like the others.
See All