fearful
[feer-fuh l]
- causing or apt to cause fear; frightening: a fearful apparition.
- feeling fear, dread, apprehension, or solicitude: fearful for his life; fearful lest he commit suicide.
- full of awe or reverence: fearful of the Lord.
- showing or caused by fear: fearful behavior.
- extreme in size, intensity, or badness: a fearful head cold; fearful poverty.
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Origin of fearful
Synonyms
See more synonyms for fearful on Thesaurus.com2. afraid, timid, timorous, apprehensive, uneasy, distrustful; solicitous, anxious, concerned, worried.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for fearfully
Contemporary Examples
He is vividly, fearfully aware of how much worse things might get than the rotten, tottering system he upholds.
In a world screaming at us to lean in, we fearfully crave the experience of leaning out.
Equally inevitable, Israel is responding, fearfully, with bullets.
Historical Examples
"It's fearfully hard work, of course," he commented, when she had finished.
KMary Roberts Rinehart
They were fearfully bad, and my face must have shown the impression they made.
The HarborErnest Poole
All too fearfully I divined their preposterous significance.
Ruggles of Red GapHarry Leon Wilson
Yea, he would curse them bitterly, and swore most fearfully what he would do to them when he found them.
BunyanJames Anthony Froude
Reluctantly, fearfully, distrustfully, Glory paid her guinea and left her address.
The ChristianHall Caine
fearfully
- in a fearful manner
- (intensifier)you're fearfully kind
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fearful
- having fear; afraid
- causing fear; frightening
- informal very unpleasant or annoyinga fearful cold
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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
Word Origin and History for fearfully
fearful
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper