scary

adjective

ˈsker-ē 

scarier; scariest

1

: causing fright : alarming

a scary story

2

: easily scared : timid

3

: feeling alarm or fright : frightened

scarily

ˈsker-ə-lē 

adverb

Synonyms

• alarming
• dire
• direful
• dread
• dreadful
• fearful
• fearsome
• forbidding
• formidable
• frightening
• frightful
• ghastly
• hair-raising
• horrendous
• horrible
• horrifying
• intimidating
• redoubtable
• shocking
• spine-chilling
• terrible
• terrifying

Examples of scary in a Sentence

a scary movie that gave the child nightmares for weeks afterwards

a scary horse who spooked and kicked at its own shadow

Recent Examples on the Web

However, digging down into the detail revealed the really scary statistics: 154 million were listed as being authentication cookies, with 23.5 million still active, and 37 million listed as login cookies with 6.6 million active. —Davey Winder, Forbes, 2 Dec. 2024

Something new is always going to register as scary in the brain before the brain gets comfortable with it. —Meghan Rose, Glamour, 1 Dec. 2024

But the sentiment of time becoming so scary to me came before that. —Brian Davids, The Hollywood Reporter, 30 Nov. 2024

Even scarier, some versions of this malware had been signed and approved by Apple’s security system before experts caught on. —Kurt Knutsson, Cyberguy Report, Fox News, 25 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1582, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

scary

adjective

ˈske(ə)r-ē 

ˈska(ə)r-

scarier; scariest

1

: causing fright : alarming

a scary movie

2

: easily scared : timid

3

: feeling alarm or fright : scared, frightened

scary feeling

scarily

-ə-lē 

adverb