SCARE

[noun] [C]I got/had a scare (= I was very worried) when I looked at my bank statement this morning!You gave us a real scare (= frightened us) when you fainted, you know.The Tories accused Labour of planning higher taxes, but Labour said the Tories were using/employing scare tactics (= frightening people in order to win support for themselves).When there is a scare about a subject, that subject receives a lot of public attention and worries many people, often unnecessarily.There have been quite a few scares about food poisoning recently.The health minister said it was irresponsible of the press to print scare stories about the mystery virus.