Meaning & use
stare
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Meanings
verbintransitive
To keep your eyes fixed on someone or something for a long moment, usually with wide open eyes and little movement.
Grammar: No object; the target follows at: she stared at the screen.
Patterns
- stare at someone/something
- stare into something
- stare out of something
The toddler stared at the strange dog without moving.
He stared out of the window for most of the lesson.
Please don't stare at people when they are eating.
nouncountable
A long, steady look with the eyes held on one person or thing, often showing surprise, anger or deep thought.
Grammar: Usually takes an or an: she gave him a cold stare.
Patterns
- give someone a stare
- a stare of something
She answered his question with a blank stare.
The new student felt a stare on the back of his neck.
A stare from the teacher was enough to quiet the class.
Word forms
| third person singular | stares |
|---|---|
| past tense | stared |
| past participle | stared |
| -ing form | staring |
Common combinations
- stare blankly
- He stared blankly at the exam paper, unable to remember anything.
- stare in disbelief
- They stared in disbelief as the bus drove away without them.
- stare into space
- She sat staring into space while her tea went cold.
- stare someone in the face
- The answer had been staring us in the face all along.
- stare at the ceiling
- I lay awake and stared at the ceiling until dawn.
Synonyms and how they differ
- gaze
- Gaze suggests a calm, often admiring or dreamy look, whereas stare can feel rude or hard.
- gawk
- Gawk is informal and implies staring stupidly or openly at something odd, which makes it more critical than stare.
- glare
- Glare always carries anger or hostility, while stare can be neutral or simply surprised.
- gape
- Gape adds the idea of an open mouth and amazement, so it is stronger on shock than stare.
Opposites
Word family
- staring adjective
- fixed and wide, as in staring eyes
- starer noun
- a person who stares
- staringly adverb
- in a fixed, wide-eyed way (rare)
Commonly confused: stare or stair?
stare vs stair
A stair is a step in a staircase and sounds the same as stare, but it has nothing to do with looking.
Practice
The little boy ___ at the magician with wide eyes.
Choose one answer.
Stared fits because the eyes stay fixed on the magician for a long time. Glanced and peeked describe short looks, and blinked is not followed by at in this sense.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “stare”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.