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PlainSpell

glare

/ɡlɛɚ/noun, verb, adjective

glare is spelled G-L-A-R-E: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.3 times per million words in written English, the 18,064th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, glare means “An intense, blinding light” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of glare is glares.

How many letters and syllables are in glare?

Letters5: G-L-A-R-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing2.3 times per million words; the 18,064th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is glare?

Glare appears 2.3 times per million words in written English, the 18,064th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce glare?

  • US /ɡlɛɚ/
  • UK /ɡlɛə/
  • Australia /ɡleː/

Glare has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Aadenboy-glare.wav, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-glare.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with glare?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as glare from its last stressed vowel (/ɛəɹ/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: large, regal, lager.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of glare

  • glares plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • glaring participle, present
  • glared participle, past
  • more glare comparative
  • most glare superlative

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does glare mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    An intense, blinding light.

  2. 2

    Showy brilliance; gaudiness.

  3. 3

    An angry or fierce stare.

  4. 4

    A call collision; the situation where an incoming call occurs at the same time as an outgoing call.

  5. 5

    USA smooth, bright, glassy surface.

    a glare of ice

  6. 6

    A viscous, transparent substance; glair.

verb

  1. 1

    To stare angrily.

    He walked in late, with the teacher glaring at him the whole time.

  2. 2

    To shine brightly.

    The sun glared down on the desert sand.

  3. 3

    To be bright and intense, or ostentatiously splendid.

  4. 4

    To shoot out, or emit, as a dazzling light.

adjective

  1. 1

    USsmooth and bright or translucent; glary

    skating on glare ice

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Glare in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchéclat (light)
GermanBlendung (light), entrüstetes Starren (angry or fierce stare), missbilligend anstarren (to stare angrily)
Portugueseclarão (light), fulminar com os olhos (to stare angrily), brilhar, reluzir (to shine brightly)
Spanishdeslumbramiento, deslumbre (light), mirada fulminante (angry or fierce stare), mirar fulminantemente (to stare angrily)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does glare come from?

From Middle English glaren, from Old English *glærian, from Proto-West Germanic *glarōn. Cognate with dialectal Middle Dutch glariën (“to glisten; sparkle”), Low German glaren (“to shine brightly; glow; burn”), Middle High German glaren (“to shine brightly”). Related to glower, glass.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after glare