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Glite Dictionary
to scare someone to death

to scare someone to death

59 3.7
To frighten someone very much
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : dar un susto de muerte
  • I'm telling you, Ben, this stuff scares me to death.
  • scare someone half to death
  • scare people to death
  • just scared me to death

Examples

Synonyms

to scare
vsto scare someone to death
∞ 1.0

To make someone feel afraid or unsure of themselves

is an extreme informal expression that pushes fear to the highest level
to frighten
vsto scare someone to death
540 1.0

To make someone feel afraid

is a far stronger, emphatic expression of very severe fear
to terrify
vsto scare someone to death
148 3.2

To make someone feel very frightened

is an informal emphatic phrase stressing sudden, overwhelming fear
to terrorize
vsto scare someone to death
  • NSFW
145 6.7

To frighten someone very much by using threats or violence

expresses a single extreme frightening event rather than ongoing terror
to horrify
vsto scare someone to death
90 4.3

Make someone feel very shocked, afraid, or disgusted

focuses on sheer extreme fright without the disgust element
to scare the hell out of
vsto scare someone to death
  • Informal
56 6.7

To make someone very afraid

is an emphatic colloquial way to express the same strong fear
to petrify
vsto scare someone to death
7 4.8

To make someone so frightened that they cannot move or think

expresses extreme fear but not necessarily immobility or shock
to scare the bejesus out of
vsto scare someone to death
  • Informal
5 8.8

To make someone very afraid

is the fixed emphatic phrase that conveys extreme fright similarly
to scare the bejesus
vsto scare someone to death
  • Informal
5 9.0

To frighten someone very much by a sudden event or loud noise

is the longer idiomatic form that expresses the same extreme fear
to scare the pants off
vsto scare someone to death
  • Informal
3 8.2

To frighten someone very much

is a different emphatic informal phrase showing the same intensity
to put the fear of God into
vsto scare someone to death
  • Informal
3 8.2

Make people very afraid and make them respect you by showing power

is a vivid emotional expression used to show sudden overwhelming fear
to scare the living daylights out of
vsto scare someone to death
  • Informal
3 6.9

To frighten someone very much

is a shorter phrasing that also stresses extreme sudden fear
to scare the life out of
vsto scare someone to death
  • Informal
3 5.6

To make someone very afraid

is an idiomatic emphatic expression with similar severe fear
to chill to the bone
vsto scare someone to death
  • Informal
3 6.3

To make someone feel very cold or deeply frightened

conveys extreme fright but without the physical cold feeling

Antonyms

to comfort
172 1.0

To make someone feel less upset or in pain

to reassure
163 3.4

To make someone feel less worried and more confident

How Scary

to terrify
148 3.2
to scare someone to death
  • Informal
59 3.7
to frighten
540 1.0
to startle
131 3.7

Surface Forms

scare someone to death infinitive
scared someone to death past
scared someone to death past participle
scaring someone to death present participle
scares someone to death third person singular

Morphology

scare + someone + to + death

The meaning is built from obvious constituents: a B1 learner who knows 'scare' and 'death' can plausibly infer this is hyperbolic and means to frighten someone extremely rather than literally cause death. However, the expression relies on conventionalized exaggeration (a non-literal intensifier) that must be recognized as figurative rather than fully predictable from composition, so it is only partially transparent.

Etymology

Scare someone to death uses scare and death to paint a strong picture: imagine someone so frightened their face goes white and their heart seems to stop, as if they might die. That's why it means 'to frighten someone very much'.