STARING Synonyms: 34 Similar and Opposite Words

staring

verb

present participle of stare

as in gazing

to look long and hard in wonder or surprise her friends stared in disbelief upon seeing her walking arm in arm with her ex-husband

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of staring The Royals were out of the AL Central race by August and staring at another losing season. — Kansas City Star, 23 Oct. 2026 Screens compound the problem because people blink less while staring at them. — Samantha Agate, Sacbee.com, 21 Oct. 2026 All the while, the two are engaged in a staring contest like two territorial bald eagles locked in a death spiral. — Margaux Anbouba, Vogue, 20 Oct. 2026 Walking into a room to do some task or other, they’ll get stuck obsessively staring at the door hinges. — Meghan O’Gieblyn, The New York Review of Books, 17 Oct. 2026 Before ChatGPT came on the scene, chipmakers were staring at a post-COVID chip glut. — Nicholas Gordon, Fortune, 16 Oct. 2026 Taken roughly two decades after her prison ordeal, the image reveals a still formidable figure, a woman unbroken by countless trials, staring straight into the camera’s lens. — Literary Hub, 15 Oct. 2026 Ward is 3-19 as a starting quarterback, which includes a 0-7 mark against AFC South foes, and is staring another loss to a divisional rival in the face with the Titans traveling to Indianapolis to take on the Colts on Sunday. — Mark Harris Outkick, FOXNews.com, 14 Oct. 2026 Sometimes the smartest move is to stop staring at the problem long enough to remember the bigger picture. — Tarot.com, Baltimore Sun, 13 Oct. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for staring

Verb

Wasson detects a lingering resentment in the poor Sicilian kid gazing up at the idle rich.

— Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 19 Oct. 2026
Those who fall short have to be satisfied with simply gazing at the destination from the parking lot.

— Donna Vickroy, Chicago Tribune, 18 Oct. 2026

Definition of gazing

Verb

The film opens with Tenzing as a boy, gawking at Mount Everest, which looms across the valley like Godzilla.

— Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 10 Oct. 2026
On most days the Jewel House in the Tower of London is packed with tourists gawking at the fabled British Crown Jewels.

— Hadley Hall Meares, Vanity Fair, 17 Aug. 2026

Definition of gawking

Browse Nearby Words

star (in)

staring

staring down

See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

Style

“Staring.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/staring. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation

Synonyms of staring

verb

Example Sentences

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

milieu

Popular in Grammar & Usage

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

Popular in Wordplay

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Why do we 'bury the lede?'

'Za' and 9 Other Words to Help You Win at SCRABBLE

Popular

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Games & Quizzes