Fear vs Scared
Every living being experiences certain emotions and feelings. Out of the wide variety of such emotions, fear is perhaps the most important one that allows living things to keep out of harm’s way. There are many words that are associated with fear; afraid and scared being two of such words it is quite common to assume that all these words can be used alternatively. However, the contexts in which these two words are used are quite different and being aware of the many differences in these words comes in useful when applying the terms in appropriate contexts.
What is Fear?
Fear is one of the most basic and innate set of emotions felt by human beings. Not only by humans, fear is also something that is felt by animals and all living beings alike. Fear is an emotion that is triggered in response to a thing or a situation perceived as a threat to life, health, wealth or anything that is considered valuable to the being and often causing a change in the brain, and thereby leading to a response to the perceived threat such as confrontation or avoiding of the cause of threat. In extreme cases, fear can cause paralysis which is also known as a freeze response.
Fear is an emotion that is developed through a process of learning and cognition. Fear is generally categorized into two types such as rational and appropriate and irrational and inappropriate. The irrational and inappropriate fear is called a phobia. There exists many phobias in the world, and it is said that every human being suffers from a multitude of phobias.
What does Scared mean?
Scared is an adjective which can be defined as being afraid of something or being frightened. It is the act of being thrown into a state of fear and usually being unable to act out against the cause of fear. For example, “He is scared of the sea.”
Scared can also be used to express a worry or a concern. For example, “I was scared that my mother wouldn’t let me go out.”
Scared can also be used to express a phobia, a state of unreasonable fear. For example, “My sister is scared of the dark.”
Frightened and afraid are two synonyms of scared; these can be used interchangeably with the word ‘scared’.
What is the difference between Fear and Scared?
Fear and scared are two words that are closely related and, therefore, are assumed to be able to use interchangeably. Although the definitions of the two words are pretty much similar, when applying it in different contexts, one needs to be extra careful.
• Fear is a noun and can also be used as a verb. Scared is an adjective.
• Fear is an emotion. Scared is the state of experiencing fear.
• Being scared is often irrational. Fear can be both rational and irrational.
• Scared is a word that can be used to express a concern or to express a phobia. The word fear is not seen often to be used in such contexts.
• Being scared can be a temporary thing. For example, being pounced at from a corner may scare an individual momentarily, but fear is more long lasting in nature.