Phrase Hound found 47 phrases and 39 compound words that contain scare. The most common are listed below. Open scare in the live search for definitions, filters, and the full list.
Phrases 47
- jump scareA sudden, unexpected and startling event in media designed to frighten the audience.
- red scareFearmongering on the topic of a rise in communism that will threaten Western nations, especially from Soviet Union and the Soviet bloc in the past, China, Cuba, North Korea, etc. but also from any leftist movement.
- scare lineA long rope, cable, or other line that is used to frighten fish into an area where they are more easily caught using other gear.
- scare quoteA quotation mark deliberately used to provoke a reaction or to indicate that the author does not approve of a term or clause, rather than to identify a direct quotation.
- scare the horsesTo upset public order, decorum, or conventional values.
- scare campaignAn effort to make a large group of people afraid of someone or something.
- scare-the-birdsA scarecrow.
- scare offTo cause (something) to flee by frightening it.
- scare upTo frighten (an animal, especially a game animal) into appearing from cover.
- scare tacticA type of psychological manipulation regarding a particular issue in which fear or alarm is aroused.
- First Red ScareA period during the early 20th-century history of the United States marked by a widespread fear of far-left extremism, including but not limited to Bolshevism, socialism, and anarchism.
- Second Red ScareA period in the United States between the 1940s and 1950s marked by a widespread fear of communism and socialism; McCarthyism.
- bomb scareA threat to detonate an explosive or incendiary device.
- lavender scareThe fear and persecution of homosexuals in the 1950s in the United States.
- scare quotesplural of scare quote: A quotation mark deliberately used to provoke a reaction or to indicate that the author does not approve of a term or clause, rather than to identify a direct quotation.
- scare tacticsplural of scare tactic: A type of psychological manipulation regarding a particular issue in which fear or alarm is aroused.
- scare straightTo frighten (someone) to such a degree that a significant improvement in behavior results.
- scare someone out of their mindSynonym of scare someone out of their wits (“to frighten greatly”).
- scare storyA rumour spread by a scaremonger in order to cause anxiety.
- scare-headAlternative form of scarehead: An alarming or sensational headline.
- scare the pants offTo scare or startle someone thoroughly.
- scare someone out of their witsTo frighten someone to such an extent that they behave irrationally.
- scare the living daylights out ofTo scare something or someone to a large degree.
- scare the life out ofTo scare something or someone to a great degree.
- scare awaySynonym of scare off: To cause (something) to flee by frightening it.
Compound words 39
- scarecrowAn effigy, typically made of straw and dressed in old clothes, fixed to a pole in a field to deter birds from eating crops or seeds planted there.
- scarerOne who, or that which, scares.
- scaremongerSomeone who spreads worrying rumours or needlessly alarms people.
- scareheadAn alarming or sensational headline.
- jumpscareAlternative form of jump scare: A sudden, unexpected and startling event in media designed to frighten the audience.
- scaresomeCharacterised or marked by scariness; frightful.
- bescareTo fill with fright; scare all over; scare completely; terrify.
- scaredeerSynonym of deer scarer: A traditional device found in Japanese gardens, composed of a bamboo tube that when filled with water revolves to empty and makes a clanking sound
- scarelessDevoid of scares; not at all frightening.
- scariantAn unconfirmed or unstudied variant or strain of COVID-19 that causes widespread panic.