What does "scarehead" mean?

An alarming or sensational headline.

What is a synonym for "scarehead"?

Common synonyms include: banner, banner head, caption, drop head, dropline, epigraph.

Pronounced //ˈskɛə(ɹ)hɛd//.

//ˈskɛə(ɹ)hɛd// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Noun

1
An alarming or sensational headline.
"If then he makes a scarehead of it, and gets in three columns of space and as many photographs, it is his just reward."

Verb

1
To write an alarming or sensational headline about.
"As soon as my dead body is found the newspapers will want to know why I did it. I'll tell them. And they may scarehead it as much as they like."

"If then he makes a scarehead of it, and gets in three columns of space and as many photographs, it is his just reward."

Clipping of scare + headline

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.