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😱 To scare suddenly 🧑‍🎤 An odd person 👻 A ghost 🧠 A haunting memory
to spook

to spook

97 4.8
To suddenly frighten a person or animal so they panic
  • verb
  • /spuk/
translation icon : asustar
  • The sudden noise from the doorway spooked the cat, causing it to leap off the couch.

Point there is anytime somebody would approach they'd get spooked and would go running off.

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Examples

  • Man, people are spooked, Max.

    The Boost (1988)

  • You might have spooked him already.

    Zero Dark Thirty (2012)

  • I thought, oh, that spooked me for a second.

    Gamers Nexus

  • Do you have a sense of why they would be spooked by this next level?

  • Now you got me spooked.

    The Skeleton Key (2005)

  • All right, get ready to be spooked out of your boots.

  • But the horse is spooked by the storm and throws the guard.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • The small, easily spooked roan was getting a lot of national press.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • I pulled the stall door open too quickly, and it spooked Silver Patriot.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • Greg approached the bush cautiously, a little bit spooked by the whole business.

    Fiction book (1998)

Synonyms

to shock
vsto spook
202 2.1

To cause someone to feel sudden surprise and distress

triggers sudden fear and often a panicked reaction rather than mere surprise
to terrify
vsto spook
148 3.2

To make someone feel very frightened

is sudden and startles rather than only creating prolonged intense fear
to scare the hell out of
vsto spook
  • Informal
56 6.7

To make someone very afraid

is sudden but often results in a quicker, milder panic
to jolt
vsto spook
8 4.3

To surprise someone and make them react

causes sudden fright that often provokes panic rather than mere disturbance
to scare the bejesus out of
vsto spook
  • Informal
5 8.8

To make someone very afraid

is sudden but usually causes milder alarm rather than extreme panic
to scare the bejesus
vsto spook
  • Informal
5 9.0

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

is sudden but tends to cause milder fright than that extreme surprise
to scare the pants off
vsto spook
  • Informal
3 8.2

To frighten someone very much

is sudden but usually causes less overwhelming alarm
to scare the life out of
vsto spook
  • Informal
3 5.6

To make someone very afraid

is sudden but typically less overwhelming in intensity
to fright
vsto spook
2 3.2

To make someone feel afraid

is sudden and often produces a startled, panicked reaction rather than general fear

How Frightening

to terrify
148 3.2
to frighten
540 1.0
to spook
97 4.8
to alarm
133 1.9
to startle
131 3.7
to surprise
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

spook infinitive
spooked past
spooked past participle
spooking present participle
spooks third person singular

Etymology

Spook (verb) comes from an old Dutch word for 'ghost'. So to spook someone is to give them a sudden, ghost-like fright.