fearful
causing or apt to cause fear; frightening: a fearful apparition.
feeling fear, dread, apprehension, or solicitude: fearful for his life.
full of awe or reverence: fearful of the Lord.
showing or caused by fear: fearful behavior exhibited by dogs in the animal shelter.
extreme in size, intensity, or badness: a fearful head cold; fearful poverty.
Origin of fearful
1Other words for fearful
Other words from fearful
- fear·ful·ly, adverb
- fear·ful·ness, noun
- un·fear·ful, adjective
Words that may be confused with fearful
- fearful , fearsome
Words Nearby fearful
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use fearful in a sentence
She softened my heart amid fearful isolation when it might otherwise have hardened in self-defense.
How a sickly squirrel offered me unexpected comfort | Pam Spritzer | February 8, 2021 | Washington PostWhen investors are fearful, they tend to buy up these securities, pushing down Treasury bond yields and causing the yield curve to invert.
If someone is fearful of getting a vaccine, we will speak to them privately about how we can best support them.
With many employees wary, company leaders prepare their return-to-office coronavirus vaccine policies | Jessica Davies | January 18, 2021 | DigidayAmong the economic lesson of 2020 is that fearful consumers means less economic activity.
What job security? Americans are feeling worn down and fearful of layoffs | Lance Lambert | January 15, 2021 | FortuneAnxiety makes you feel bad physically, and those physical symptoms feel like danger, so you become even more fearful and anxious, which only makes the symptoms worse.
How to keep your anxiety from spiraling out of control | Sara Chodosh | January 15, 2021 | Popular-Science
Still fearful and smarting from the pain, I arrived on time and was led to chair in his office.
I Was Gang Raped at a UVA Frat 30 Years Ago, and No One Did Anything | Liz Seccuro | December 16, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe grand jury decision “makes us a little bit more fearful to leave our homes every day,” Cook told me.
‘They Let Him Off?’ Scenes from NYC in Disbelief | Jacob Siegel | December 4, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThis past election, they were hardly mentioned by Republicans fearful of alienating moderates.
It Gets Better—but Mostly if You Live in a Rich, Democratic Country | Jay Michaelson | November 11, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTOddly, though, Americans are not fearful enough when it comes to real threats.
Ebola, ISIS, the Border: So Much to Fear, So Little Time! | Gene Robinson | November 2, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAt first, the doctors write, the villagers were “fearful and agitated,” lacking the basic necessities needed to survive.
And it is too true that ages of subjugation have demoralized, to a fearful extent, the Italian People.
Glances at Europe | Horace GreeleyHis arm was drawn around the drum, and finally his whole body was drawn over the shaft, at a fearful rate.
The Book of Anecdotes and Budget of Fun; | VariousA bull-fight is fearful enough, but it cannot compare with the struggle between a maddened buffalo and his pursuer.
Alila, Our Little Philippine Cousin | Mary Hazelton WadeThe boy often wonders if there is another animal in the world with such fearful horns.
Alila, Our Little Philippine Cousin | Mary Hazelton WadeSo with a fearful growl, and a bark that might have frightened a lion, Bravo made a leap and a spring after poor little Downy.
The Nursery, July 1873, Vol. XIV. No. 1 | Various
British Dictionary definitions for fearful
/ (ˈfɪəfʊl) /
having fear; afraid
causing fear; frightening
informal very unpleasant or annoying: a fearful cold
Derived forms of fearful
- fearfulness, 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
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