scare someone out of their wits
scare someone out of their wits verb: to frighten someone to such an extent that they behave irrationally.
Verb
scare someone out of their wits (third-person singular simple present scares someone out of their wits, present participle scaring someone out of their wits, simple past and past participle scared someone out of their wits)
- To frighten someone to such an extent that they behave irrationally.
- He scared me out of my wits, sneaking up behind me in the dark like that.
- Synonyms:
- frighten someone out of their wits
Synonyms of scare someone out of their wits
- frighten someone out of their wits
Forms of scare someone out of their wits
| third-person singular present | scares someone out of their wits |
|---|---|
| present participle | scaring someone out of their wits |
| past participle | scared someone out of their wits |
| past | scared someone out of their wits |
Questions about scare someone out of their wits
- What does scare someone out of their wits mean?
- Scare someone out of their wits means to frighten someone to such an extent that they behave irrationally.
- What part of speech is scare someone out of their wits?
- Scare someone out of their wits is a verb.
- What is the past tense of scare someone out of their wits?
- The past tense of scare someone out of their wits is scared someone out of their wits.
Words near scare someone out of their wits in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: scare someone out of their wits (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-scare out of one's wits.ogg.
Cite this entry: “scare someone out of their wits.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/scare_someone_out_of_their_wits. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.