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.

Presidents and generals have dreaded seeing his byline.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 22, 2025

A tragedy occurs in the middle of “Close” — something a viewer might have dreaded and hoped was not coming — that splits the movie in two.

From New York Times • Jan. 26, 2023

The ballooning page count, oddly enough, is a giveaway: The longer you read The Mirror and the Light, the more you sense how Mantel must have dreaded arriving at this finale.

From Slate • Mar. 12, 2020

Most people at one time or another have dreaded receiving vaccinations but endured the momentary pain from the needle’s prick to get the shot knowing it was for their own good.

From Washington Times • Jul. 18, 2017

Originally, man seems to have dreaded all water, whether of springs or of rivers or of the sea, in the idea that it was a dragon's pasture.

From The Book of This and That by Lynd, Robert