SCARE TACTICS Definition & Meaning

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scare tactics

[ skair tak-tiks ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

plural noun

a strategy to get someone to comply or surrender by making them afraid:
Scare tactics won't keep kids from using drugs, says this social worker.
In this telemarketing scam, perpetrators use the threat of a computer meltdown as a scare tactic to get victims to send money.

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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of scare tactics¹

First recorded in 1905–10

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Example Sentences

“Those programs were scare tactics, right?” said Sanho, who was a student activist when the government first invited “Officer Friendly or Not-So-Friendly” to come into the classroom.

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“It’s not just about warning people that conditions are right. Anyone can go online and fearmonger and create scare tactics. I’d never hype up a storm unless it needed to be hyped up.”

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But Catherine Parsons, who oversees the Big Issue's specialist employability service Big Issue Recruit, said that "scare tactics" would only exacerbate Britain's worker shortages.

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The rhetoric has been far sharper among officials talking about lawsuits and “scare tactics.”

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In their joint statement, the governors of Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Texas and Tennessee accused the union of unspecified “misinformation and scare tactics.”

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