"scare the hell out of" meaning in English

See scare the hell out of in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Forms: scares the hell out of [present, singular, third-person], scaring the hell out of [participle, present], scared the hell out of [participle, past], scared the hell out of [past]
Head templates: {{en-verb|*}} scare the hell out of (third-person singular simple present scares the hell out of, present participle scaring the hell out of, simple past and past participle scared the hell out of)
  1. (mildly vulgar, chiefly slang) To frighten (someone or an animal). Tags: mildly, slang, vulgar
    Sense id: en-scare_the_hell_out_of-en-verb-1kGL7Wrs Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Fear Synonyms: scare the shit out of, alarm, affright, appall, dismay, fray [archaic], frighten, grill [Scotland, obsolete], give someone the shits [idiomatic, vulgar], harrow, horrify, make someone's blood run cold [idiomatic], mortify, petrify, scare, scare straight, scare the bejeebers out of [slang], scare the hell out of [idiomatic, slang], scare the pants off of [idiomatic, slang], scare the shit out of [idiomatic, slang], terrorize, terrify, spook

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "scares the hell out of",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "scaring the hell out of",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "scared the hell out of",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "scared the hell out of",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "scare the hell out of (third-person singular simple present scares the hell out of, present participle scaring the hell out of, simple past and past participle scared the hell out of)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Fear",
          "orig": "en:Fear",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To frighten (someone or an animal)."
      ],
      "id": "en-scare_the_hell_out_of-en-verb-1kGL7Wrs",
      "links": [
        [
          "frighten",
          "frighten"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(mildly vulgar, chiefly slang) To frighten (someone or an animal)."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "scare the shit out of"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "word": "alarm"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "word": "affright"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "word": "appall"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "word": "dismay"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "tags": [
            "archaic"
          ],
          "word": "fray"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "word": "frighten"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "tags": [
            "Scotland",
            "obsolete"
          ],
          "word": "grill"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "tags": [
            "idiomatic",
            "vulgar"
          ],
          "word": "give someone the shits"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "word": "harrow"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "word": "horrify"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "tags": [
            "idiomatic"
          ],
          "word": "make someone's blood run cold"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "word": "mortify"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "word": "petrify"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "word": "scare"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "word": "scare straight"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "tags": [
            "slang"
          ],
          "word": "scare the bejeebers out of"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "tags": [
            "idiomatic",
            "slang"
          ],
          "word": "scare the hell out of"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "tags": [
            "idiomatic",
            "slang"
          ],
          "word": "scare the pants off of"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "tags": [
            "idiomatic",
            "slang"
          ],
          "word": "scare the shit out of"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "word": "terrorize"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "word": "terrify"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "word": "spook"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "mildly",
        "slang",
        "vulgar"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "scare the hell out of"
}
{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "scares the hell out of",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "scaring the hell out of",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "scared the hell out of",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "scared the hell out of",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "scare the hell out of (third-person singular simple present scares the hell out of, present participle scaring the hell out of, simple past and past participle scared the hell out of)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English slang",
        "English verbs",
        "English vulgarities",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "en:Fear"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To frighten (someone or an animal)."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "frighten",
          "frighten"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(mildly vulgar, chiefly slang) To frighten (someone or an animal)."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "scare the shit out of"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "word": "alarm"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "word": "affright"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "word": "appall"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "word": "dismay"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "tags": [
            "archaic"
          ],
          "word": "fray"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "word": "frighten"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "tags": [
            "Scotland",
            "obsolete"
          ],
          "word": "grill"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "tags": [
            "idiomatic",
            "vulgar"
          ],
          "word": "give someone the shits"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "word": "harrow"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "word": "horrify"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "tags": [
            "idiomatic"
          ],
          "word": "make someone's blood run cold"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "word": "mortify"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "word": "petrify"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "word": "scare"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "word": "scare straight"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "tags": [
            "slang"
          ],
          "word": "scare the bejeebers out of"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "tags": [
            "idiomatic",
            "slang"
          ],
          "word": "scare the hell out of"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "tags": [
            "idiomatic",
            "slang"
          ],
          "word": "scare the pants off of"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "tags": [
            "idiomatic",
            "slang"
          ],
          "word": "scare the shit out of"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "word": "terrorize"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "word": "terrify"
        },
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:frighten",
          "word": "spook"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "mildly",
        "slang",
        "vulgar"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "scare the hell out of"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-10-04 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-09-20 using wiktextract (ea0d853 and 1ab82da). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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