dreadful
adjective
causing great dread, fear, or terror; terrible.
dreadfulness
-
a word derived from
dreadful.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Yet the performance is mostly one of heartbreaking reserve; her occasional voiceover comes in short, spare declarations from Carol’s diary on the latest dreadfulness to afflict the town.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 26, 2026
“Apparently I was ready to confront the dreadfulness called me, and I prevailed. I never turned back. Every day I worked on some part of my screwed-up life until the anxiety dropped away,” she wrote.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 6, 2022
Other centerpieces arrived to the Cubs courtesy of the high draft picks that the team earned through its years of calculated dreadfulness.
From The New Yorker ● Sep. 15, 2016
The Times reports that it has "taken some days for the full dreadfulness" of what happened there "to percolate" into public consciousness.
From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2012
“And now I hear in your voice that you have it too. I feel wings over this house. I feel a dreadfulness coming.”
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
