Meaning & use
death stare
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Meanings
nouncountableinformal
A long, fixed, angry look at someone that shows strong dislike or hostility.
Grammar: Countable: you can give someone a death stare, or receive one; the plural is death stares.
Patterns
- give someone a death stare
- get a death stare from someone
- a death stare at someone
She gave me a death stare when I mentioned her ex-boyfriend.
He sat through the whole meeting shooting death stares at the manager.
I got a death stare from the woman whose seat I accidentally took.
verbtransitive or intransitiveinformal
To look at someone with a long, angry, fixed expression.
Grammar: Often written as two words, 'death stare', and used with an object: she death-stared him across the room.
Patterns
- death-stare someone
- death-stare at someone
He death-stared the referee after the bad call.
Stop death-staring me — it was an honest mistake.
Word forms
| plural | death stares |
|---|
Common combinations
- give someone a death stare
- The teacher gave the noisy students a death stare.
- shoot someone a death stare
- She shot him a death stare from across the table.
- fix someone with a death stare
- He fixed the interviewer with a death stare.
- a withering death stare
- Her withering death stare silenced the whole room.
Synonyms and how they differ
- glare
- A glare is a general angry look and is more neutral in register; a death stare is stronger and more informal, suggesting intense personal hostility.
- scowl
- A scowl is an angry, frowning expression of the whole face, while a death stare is mainly about the eyes fixed on someone.
- dirty look
- A dirty look is milder and shorter; a death stare is longer, colder, and more intimidating.
Opposites
Word family
- death-staring noun
- The act of giving someone a long, hostile look.
Commonly confused: death stare or death star?
death stare vs death star
A death star is a huge space station in the Star Wars films; a death stare is only an angry look, so the spelling difference matters.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'death stare' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Give someone a death stare' is the usual pattern and fits the angry context. Option 2 is wrong because a death stare shows hostility, not happiness; option 3 uses the wrong preposition (you death-stare someone or stare at someone); option 4 uses 'for' where 'at' or a direct object is needed.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “death stare”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.