scary
- 01 A2 Elementary
adj.making you feel afraid or nervous.
adj.causing fear, anxiety, or alarm. Often used to describe entertainment or situations that are intentionally frightening.
Simple“The movie was so scary that I had to cover my eyes during the ending.”
In context“Walking through the abandoned hospital at night was a truly scary experience that left the entire group feeling unsettled.”
UsageCommonly used as a predicative adjective after 'be' or 'look'.
PitfallI am very scary of spiders. I am very scared of spiders.Use 'scary' to describe the thing that causes fear, and 'scared' to describe how you feel.
SynonymsAntonyms - 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
adj.so impressive or strange that it is almost shocking.
adj.uncannily striking, surprising, or impressive in its intensity or accuracy.
Simple“The resemblance between the two cousins is actually quite scary.”
In context“The new software can mimic a person's voice with scary accuracy, raising significant concerns about digital security.”
Synonyms - 03 C1 Advanced
adv.used to emphasize how much of a quality something has.
adv.functioning as an intensifier to mean 'to a frightening or surprising degree'.
Simple“The car was going scary fast down the narrow country road.”
In context“The stock market has been scary quiet lately, leading many analysts to predict a sudden period of high volatility.”
UsageIn this sense, the word functions as an adverb modifying an adjective.
Synonymsfrighteninglyextremely
From scare + -y.
From dialectal English scare (“scraggy”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.