1
[ verb ] look at with fixed eyes

Synonyms

gaze

Examples

"The students stared at the teacher with amazement"

Used in print

(Kenneth Allsop, The Bootleggers and Their Era...)

O_'_Banion was a complex and frightening man , whose bright_blue eyes stared with a kind_of frozen candour into others ' .

(Helen Hooven Santmyer, "There Were Fences"...)

We were forbidden to swing on the gates , lest they sag on their hinges in a poor-white-trash way , but we could stand on them , when they were latched , rest our chins on the top , and stare and stare , committing to memory , quite unintentionally , all the details that lay before our eyes .

We were forbidden to swing on the gates , lest they sag on their hinges in a poor-white-trash way , but we could stand on them , when they were latched , rest our chins on the top , and stare and stare , committing to memory , quite unintentionally , all the details that lay before our eyes .

If a child watched its progress he whispered , `` Hay , hay , load of hay - make a wish and turn_away '' , and then stared rigidly in the opposite direction until the sound of the horses ' feet returned no_more .

(Dolores Hitchens, Footsteps in the Night....)

He leaned_on the wheel , clutching it , staring into the sunlight , and tried to bring order into his thoughts .

Related terms

look stare_down stargaze

2
[ noun ] a fixed look with eyes open wide

Used in print

(Christopher Davis, First Family....)

He was able , now , to sit for hours in a chair in the living_room and stare out at the bleak yard without moving .

(Arthur Miller, "The Prophecy," in The Best...)

He worked standing , with his left hand in his pocket as_though he were merely stopping for a moment , sketching with the surprised stare of one who was watching another person 's hand .

(S. J. Perelman, The Rising Gorge. New York:...)

His eyes had the same dreadful rigid stare as Dr._Grimesby_Roylott 's when he was found before his open safe wearing the speckled band .

Related terms

look gaze contemplation glare gape

3
[ verb ] fixate one's eyes; look at with a fixed gaze, as of a sculpture or a painting

Examples

"The ancestor in the painting stared down at us menacingly"

Used in print

(Ann Hebson, The Lattimer Legend....)

He sat beside Kate 's bed with the others throughout the morning , talking , talking of God 's will , while Kate lay staring angrily at him .

Related terms

look glower

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