scary

English Online Dictionary. What means scary‎? What does scary mean?

English

Alternative forms

• scarey (dated)

Etymology 1

From scare +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: skâr'ē IPA^(key): /ˈskɛəɹi/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈskɛəɹi/, /ˈskɛɹi/
  • Homophone: skerry (only in accents with the Mary-marry-merry merger)
• Rhymes: -ɛəɹi

Adjective

scary (comparative scarier, superlative scariest)

1. (now chiefly informal) Causing fear or anxiety

   Synonyms: frightening, hair-raising, petrifying, terrifying; see also Thesaurus:frightening
2. (informal) Uncannily striking or surprising.

3. (US, colloquial) Subject to sudden alarm; easily frightened.

   Synonyms: nervous, jumpy

Derived terms

• scaries
• Sunday scaries
• scarily
• scariness
• scarisome
• scarysome
• scary devil monastery
• scary sharp
• scary-ass

Adverb

scary (not comparable)

1. (informal) To a scary extent; scarily.

Translations

Etymology 2

From dialectal English scare (“scraggy”).

Noun

scary

1. Barren land having only a thin coat of grass.

Anagrams

• -crasy, Carys, Crays, carsy, crays, scray