scare straight

verb

To frighten (someone) to such a degree that a significant improvement in behavior results.

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Meanings

verbscare straight (third-person singular simple present scares straight, present participle scaring straight, simple past and past participle scared straight)

present singular third person scares straight · participle present scaring straight · participle past scared straight · past scared straight

  1. idiomatictransitiveTo frighten (someone) to such a degree that a significant improvement in behavior results.

    Thomas credited the boot camp for scaring him straight.

    2005 March 16, Pete Thamel, “Scared Straight Into the Courts of Basketball”, in New York Times, retrieved 13 Feb 2013
    2 more examples

    Indeed, there is a streak of Reaganomics that believes the only way to motivate American workers is to scare them straight with unemployment charts.

    1982 September 3, Ellen Goodman, “Work ethic remains strong as ever”, in Spokesman-Review, Spokane, USA, retrieved 13 Feb 2013, page 4

    Slimmed down and scared straight after his bypass surgery, Clinton brokers a deal to get sugary drinks out of schools.

    2006 May 15, "How Bill Put the Fizz in the Fight Against Fat, Time (retrieved 13 Feb 2013)

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
affrightfrightengive someone the shitsgrillmortifypetrifyscare the hell out ofscare the shit out of
Cite this entry
APA

scare straight. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scare%20straight

MLA

“scare straight.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scare%20straight. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “scare straight,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/scare%20straight.

Source: scare straight on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.