overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

stare.

To look fixedly (at something).

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/stɛɚ/General-American/stɛə/Received-Pronunciation/stɛː/British, Southern, Standard/steː/Australia
  1. To look fixedly (at something).

    intransitive
    She found him staring with raised eyebrows at her.
  2. To influence in some way by looking fixedly.

    transitive
    to stare a timid person into submission
  3. To be very conspicuous on account of size, prominence, colour, or brilliancy.

    intransitive
    staring windows or colours
  4. To stand out; to project; to bristle.

    intransitive · obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle English staren, from Old English starian (“to stare”), from Proto-West Germanic *starēn, from Proto-Germanic *starjaną, *starāną (“to be fixed, be rigid”), from Proto-Indo-European *ster-. Cognate with Dutch staren (“to stare”), German starren (“to stare”), German starr (“stiff”). More at start.

noun/stɛɚ/General-American/stɛə/Received-Pronunciation/stɛː/British, Southern, Standard/steː/Australia
  1. A persistent gaze.

    the stares of astonished passers-by
Where this word comes from

From Middle English staren, from Old English starian (“to stare”), from Proto-West Germanic *starēn, from Proto-Germanic *starjaną, *starāną (“to be fixed, be rigid”), from Proto-Indo-European *ster-. Cognate with Dutch staren (“to stare”), German starren (“to stare”), German starr (“stiff”). More at start.

noun/stɛɚ/General-American/stɛə/Received-Pronunciation/stɛː/British, Southern, Standard/steː/Australia
  1. A starling.

    archaic
Where this word comes from

From Middle English star, ster, from Old English stær (“starling”), from Proto-Germanic *starô (“starling”), from Proto-Indo-European *stor- (“starling”). Cognate with German Star (“starling”), Danish stær (“starling”), Swedish stare (“starling”), Norwegian Nynorsk stare (“starling”), Icelandic stari (“starling”). Compare also Old English stearn (“a type of bird, starling”).

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

stare has 5 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

stare studiostare workshello, stare

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.