dreadful

[ dred-fuhl ]
See synonyms for: dreadfuldreadfulness on Thesaurus.com

adjective
  1. causing great dread, fear, or terror; terrible: a dreadful storm.

  2. inspiring awe or reverence.

  1. extremely bad, unpleasant, or ugly: dreadful cooking; a dreadful hat.

nounBritish.
  1. a periodical given to highly sensational matter.

Origin of dreadful

1
First recorded in 1175–1225, dreadful is from the Middle English word dredful.See dread, -ful

Other words for dreadful

Other words from dreadful

  • dread·ful·ness, noun
  • quasi-dreadful, adjective
  • qua·si-dread·ful·ly, adverb

Words Nearby dreadful

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How to use dreadful in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for dreadful

dreadful

/ (ˈdrɛdfʊl) /


adjective
  1. extremely disagreeable, shocking, or bad: what a dreadful play

  2. (intensifier): this is a dreadful waste of time

  1. causing dread; terrifying

  2. archaic inspiring awe

Derived forms of dreadful

  • dreadfulness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012