to scare away
47
2.5
- phrasal verb
- /skɛr əˈweɪ/
:
ahuyentar
- The loud noise was meant to scare away any unwanted animals from the garden.
- attempt to scare away
So what they did was embarked on a campaign to scare away any potential investors.
- So what they did was embarked on a campaign to scare away any potential investors.
- It's for bears to scare away the bears apparently.
- All these things which I understand, but I always say you can't scare a man away who is serious about being with you.
- It's got a big ass owl perched up on the edge to scare birds away.
- It's just a shotgun that that shoots off a blank round and that loud sound will scare away the birds.
- But what framing all of those negative things you don't want does is it has the potential to scare away the guys you do want.
- We all have a kind of a version of ourselves that we feel like has the potential to scare someone away.
- And I always say to women, listen, you can't scare a man away who is truly serious about you and truly cares about you.
- That's going to scare away or at least make it harder for that user type of guy to come your way.
- And I think that it would scare many people away from ever trying if they knew how much fucking work it was because it is a lot of work.
Examples
-
A hunter shoots his gun to scare away witches.
Academic text (2008) -
We have to be very quiet and not move, or else we'll scare them away.
Fiction book (1993) -
Well, you scared him away.
-
- You scared her away!
-
Now this thing's trying to scare us away.
-
I had to scare him away.
-
So what they did was embarked on a campaign to scare away any potential investors.
-
King birds can sometimes scare away bald eagles.
-
The next day, everyone tried again to scare away the crabs.
Fiction book (2002) -
I mean, it scares the crows away, so it's doing its job.
Synonyms
540
1.0
To make someone feel afraid
294
4.9
To frighten someone so they do what you want
187
1.6
Stop someone or something from coming near
148
3.2
To make someone feel very frightened
94
5.6
Make someone less likely to do something by making them fear bad results
71
3.4
To force a person, animal, or feeling to go away
68
2.7
To make people or animals go away by frightening them
34
4.4
To keep harmful or unpleasant things away from you
26
2.6
To make people or things leave by scaring them
21
4.2
Make someone or something move back and stay away, often by using force
19
4.1
Force someone or something to move away from danger
7
7.0
To make someone or something go away
6
3.3
Make someone or something leave a place by running after and frightening them
5
4.1
To make people or animals go away by waving your hand
1
3.3
To make someone or something go away by making them afraid
1
2.8
To make people or animals go away by scaring them
1
5.4
Make a person or animal go away with words and gestures
Antonyms
How Scary
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to make someone or something leave by causing fear' is directly and compositionally built from 'scare' (to cause fear) plus 'away' (movement to another place). This verb + particle pattern is common and cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will reliably infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
The phrasal verb scare away shows a clear image: to scare someone so they go away. That's why it means 'to make someone or something leave or stay away by making them afraid'.