dreadful

[dred-fuhl]

adjective

1. causing great dread, fear, or terror; terrible.

   a dreadful storm.

   Synonyms: dire, frightful

2. inspiring awe or reverence.

3. extremely bad, unpleasant, or ugly.

   dreadful cooking; a dreadful hat.

noun

British.

1. penny dreadful.

2. a periodical given to highly sensational matter.

dreadful

/ ˈdrɛdfʊl /

adjective

1. extremely disagreeable, shocking, or bad

   what a dreadful play

2. (intensifier)

   this is a dreadful waste of time

3. causing dread; terrifying

4. archaic,  inspiring awe

Other Word Forms

• dreadfulness noun
• quasi-dreadful adjective
• quasi-dreadfully adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of dreadful¹

First recorded in 1175–1225, dreadful is from the Middle English word dredful. See dread, -ful

Example Sentences

In a rehearsal, this young actor seems dreadful.

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This story was found to be "utterly untrue", Prescott said, saying this was a "dreadful thing to have put out".

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Poundland avoided collapsing into administration this year, after a dreadful period of trading, much of it of its own making.

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Veronika hurled the insult at her brothers, who had just done something dreadful.

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Her thoughts were interrupted by a dreadful scuffling noise from the back nursery, followed by a cry.

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Related Words

• abominable 
• alarming 
• appalling 
• atrocious 
• awful 
• bad 
• dire 
• distressing www.thesaurus.com
• frightful 
• ghastly 
• grievous 
• grim 
• hideous 
• horrendous 
• horrific 
• lousy 
• monstrous 
• rotten 
• shameful 
• shocking 

When To Use

What does dreadful mean?

Dreadful most commonly means extremely bad, unpleasant, or ugly.Less commonly, it can also mean causing great fear or terror, which makes sense because dreadful is the adjective form of the noun dread, meaning fear.Dreadful can also be used as an intensifier (a word that makes the meaning of the word it modifies more intense) in much the same way that awful can, as in You took a dreadful long time getting time. In cases like this, neither awful nor dreadful mean bad, but they are typically used in negative situations as opposed to positive ones.Dreadful can also be used in a more specific way as a shortened form of the term penny dreadful, the name for inexpensive illustrated books featuring violent action that were popular in Britain during the mid- and late-1800s.Example: My throat hurts, my head’s pounding, I’ve got the chills—I feel absolutely dreadful.