Meaning & use
scared
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Meanings
adjectivecomparableinformal
Feeling fear, or worried that something bad may happen.
Grammar: Often followed by of, to, or that: scared of dogs, scared to go.
Patterns
- scared of something
- scared to do something
- scared that something
I am scared of heights.
The kids were scared to go into the cellar.
He felt scared that he would fail.
verbtransitive
The past tense and past participle of scare: made someone afraid.
Grammar: Takes an object: the noise scared the dog.
Patterns
- scare someone
The loud noise scared the cat under the bed.
The film scared me so much I slept with the light on.
The sudden knock scared everyone in the room.
Word forms
| comparative | more scared |
|---|---|
| superlative | most scared |
| base form | scare |
Common combinations
- scared of
- She is scared of spiders.
- scared stiff
- He was scared stiff before the exam.
- scared to death
- I was scared to death during the storm.
- look scared
- The puppy looked scared at the vet.
- too scared to
- She was too scared to answer.
Synonyms and how they differ
- afraid
- Afraid is slightly more neutral and common in writing, whereas scared is more informal.
- frightened
- Frightened often suggests a reaction to a sudden event, whereas scared can be a longer feeling.
- terrified
- Terrified means extremely scared, much stronger than scared.
- nervous
- Nervous means uneasy about something coming up, which is milder than scared.
Opposites
Word family
- scare verb
- to make someone afraid
- scare noun
- a sudden fright or public worry
- scary adjective
- causing fear
- scarily adverb
- in a frightening way
- scaredy-cat noun
- informal; a person who is easily frightened
Commonly confused: scared or scary?
scared vs scary
Scary describes what causes fear, while scared describes the person who feels it. A scary film makes you scared.
Practice
The film was so ___ that the children were too scared to sleep.
Choose one answer.
Scary describes the film that causes fear. Scared describes the people who feel it, so it cannot describe the film.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “scared”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.