to scare the pants off
3
8.2
- idiom
- Informal
:
asustar hasta los pantalones
- God, you nearly scared the pants off me.
Examples
-
The horror movie was so terrifying that it scared the pants off everyone in the audience.
-
They scare the pants off you because they're something new and therefore terrifying.
Fiction book (2000) -
Nothing dangerous, of course, but it will scare the pants off of them.
-
We're not in enough trouble, but you had to scare the pants off of everyone too?
-
Want to scare the pants off your friends?
Academic text (1995) -
Want to really scare the pants off your party guests?
Blog text (16) -
He scared the pants off me today.
-
Scare the pants off that knucklehead.
-
But let me start by confessing: that word scares the pants off of me.
Blog text (1) -
It is an excellent documentary and will scare the pants off any true American patriot.
Blog text (17)
Synonyms
∞
1.0
To make someone feel afraid or unsure of themselves
540
1.0
To make someone feel afraid
148
3.2
To make someone feel very frightened
97
4.8
To suddenly frighten a person or animal so they panic
90
4.3
Make someone feel very shocked, afraid, or disgusted
64
5.5
To make someone feel shocked and very upset by something cruel or wrong
59
3.7
To frighten someone very much
56
6.7
To make someone very afraid
7
4.8
To make someone so frightened that they cannot move or think
5
8.8
To make someone very afraid
5
9.0
To frighten someone very much by a sudden event or loud noise
3
6.9
To frighten someone very much
3
5.6
To make someone very afraid
Antonyms
How Scary
Surface Forms
Morphology
Although 'scare' means to frighten and 'off' can indicate removal, the phrase 'scare the pants off' uses 'pants' metaphorically and the whole construction is a colloquial hyperbole meaning 'frighten extremely' that cannot be predicted from the literal parts. A B1 learner who knows the words would be unlikely to derive this intensified idiomatic sense without prior exposure or cultural familiarity.
Etymology
The idiom scare the pants off comes from a funny picture: someone is so frightened that their pants seem to fall off. That's why it means 'to frighten someone extremely'.