Idiom
scare straight
Meaning
To frighten (someone) to such a degree that a significant improvement in behavior results.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“The judge tried to scare the teenager straight.”
“After the boy was caught stealing, his parents took him to the police station hoping to scare him straight.”
“The mentor hoped that showing the youth the harsh reality of prison life would finally scare him straight before he ruined his future.”
Examples
simple
“The judge tried to scare the teenager straight.”
contextual
“After the boy was caught stealing, his parents took him to the police station hoping to scare him straight.”
complex
“The mentor hoped that showing the youth the harsh reality of prison life would finally scare him straight before he ruined his future.”
Key words
Related idioms
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