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Glite Dictionary
staring

staring

1.8
Someone's eyes are wide open and fixed on one thing, often from fear or surprise
  • adjective
  • /ˈstɛrɪŋ/
translation icon : fijado
  • It's a face staring back at you that you can't ignore.

Examples

  • The calm, proud faces of these people staring down from the walls.

  • She stood there, wide-eyed and staring at the incredible view of the sunset.

  • And yeah, these guys staring down chaos in the face.

  • So I'm just staring at him across the room.

  • A wise elephant staring at the moon at night.

  • He was just sitting in the corner, staring ahead of himself.

  • He was facing away, staring off into the darkness of the woods.

  • Beautiful pointy peaks I've been staring at for two years.

  • It can leave people in a ruminating fog, staring at old photographs and wondering.

  • The child was staring in awe at the magician performing tricks on stage.

Synonyms

wide-eyed
vsstaring
27 3.4

A person who has eyes open wide because they feel surprised or full of wonder

usually signals a fixed gaze from fear, surprise, or concentration
goggle-eyed
vsstaring
1 7.6

Having eyes wide open because you feel surprised or amazed

focuses on a fixed gaze and also includes intense concentration causes
goggly
vsstaring
  • Informal
1 8.1

Having very large eyes that look surprised

is a fixed, directed gaze often from concentration rather than a surprised look
agaze
vsstaring
  • Archaic
9.9

Having eyes wide open and fixed, often from fear or wonder

also covers cases caused by intense concentration rather than only emotion
begoggled
vsstaring
  • Archaic
9.6

Having wide, staring eyes that show surprise

describes wide open fixed eyes but not necessarily protruding

How Intense

to gawk
  • Informal
27 6.1
staring
1.8
to gaze
170 2.6
looking
1 1.0
to glance
299 1.5

Surface Forms

staring positive

Morphology

staring = stare (transparent) = stare + ing

The adjective is directly formed from the verb 'stare' with the productive adjectival/participial suffix '-ing', and the meaning ('having eyes fixed in one direction') is straightforwardly derived.

Etymology

Staring comes from the verb stare, which means 'to look fixed' with wide eyes; imagine someone's eyes that do not move because they are surprised or scared. That's why staring describes eyes that are wide open and fixed in one direction.