dread
to fear greatly; be in extreme apprehension of: to dread death.
to be reluctant to do, meet, or experience: I dread going to big parties.
Archaic. to hold in respectful awe.
to be in great fear.
terror or apprehension as to something in the future; great fear.
a person or thing dreaded.
dreads, Informal. dreadlocks.
Informal. a person who wears dreadlocks.
Archaic. deep awe or reverence.
greatly feared; frightful; terrible.
held in awe or reverential fear.
Origin of dread
1synonym study For dread
Other words for dread
Opposites for dread
Other words from dread
- dread·a·ble, adjective
- dread·ness, noun
- pre·dread, noun, verb (used with object)
- un·dread·ed, adjective
- un·dread·ing, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use dread in a sentence
William suddenly seems at severe risk of becoming what everyone dreads most: his father.
Why Prince William is Mad To Quit The Day Job For A Full-Time Life of Ribbon-Cutting | Tom Sykes | September 13, 2013 | THE DAILY BEASTTwelve years ago, Connie Gruber received news that every wife of an armed serviceman dreads.
When the Tragedy of Two Marines Killed In a Crash Becomes a Nightmare | Miranda Green | May 27, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTShe slightly dreads the ship thing, rather as Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother slightly dreaded celebrating her 100th birthday.
It prefers this to what it dreads: a pro-India regime on its western border.
America's Pakistan Mess Gets Worse With Alleged NATO Strike | Bruce Riedel | November 27, 2011 | THE DAILY BEASTWhat Greenblatt dreads is the decline of literacy, the disappearance of texts, the narrowing of expression.
And yet the individual opinions that compose the general ‘talk’ that he so dreads, are nothing to him.
The Daughters of Danaus | Mona CairdShe dreads a mistake, and is afraid that in speaking too quickly she may speak untruly.
Paul Patoff | F. Marion CrawfordOf all criticisms, the one he most dreads is, "I told you so."
My New Curate | P.A. SheehanThere is nothing which the world dreads so much as an unpitying truth.
The plain girl dreads the comparisons which will be made, and shrinks from the social failure which she foresees.
Girls and Women | Harriet E. Paine (AKA E. Chester}
British Dictionary definitions for dread
/ (drɛd) /
to anticipate with apprehension or terror
to fear greatly
archaic to be in awe of
great fear; horror
an object of terror
slang a Rastafarian
archaic deep reverence
literary awesome; awe-inspiring
Origin of dread
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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