stare
stare Lexical Profile
stare Game Scores & Validity
• verb
To look fixedly or vacantly at someone or something with one's eyes wide open.
"The children continued to stare at the street performer in amazement."
To compel someone to look away or yield by looking fixedly at them (usually followed by 'down').
"The veteran negotiator tried to stare his opponent into submission across the table."
• noun
A fixed or vacant look with the eyes wide open.
"She met his accusation with an icy, unblinking stare."
Word Nuance & Usage
Do not confuse with the homophone 'stair' (a step in a flight of stairs). Unlike 'gaze', which often implies wonder or admiration, 'stare' suggests a blank, rudely prolonged, or startled fixity of vision.
• Rhymes for stare
Word Origin & Etymology
From Old English 'starian' (to look fixedly), tracing back to Proto-Germanic '*staren' (to be rigid or fixed), which shares a root with the English word 'stiff'.