DREAD

awful, dire, direful, dread, dreaded, dreadful, fearful, fearsome, frightening, horrendous, horrific, terrible

(adjective) causing fear or dread or terror; “the awful war”; “an awful risk”; “dire news”; “a career or vengeance so direful that London was shocked”; “the dread presence of the headmaster”; “polio is no longer the dreaded disease it once was”; “a dreadful storm”; “a fearful howling”; “horrendous explosions shook the city”; “a terrible curse”

apprehension, apprehensiveness, dread

(noun) fearful expectation or anticipation; “the student looked around the examination room with apprehension”

fear, dread

(verb) be afraid or scared of; be frightened of; “I fear the winters in Moscow”; “We should not fear the Communists!”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology

Verb

dread (third-person singular simple present dreads, present participle dreading, simple past and past participle dreaded)

(transitive) To fear greatly.

To anticipate with fear.

(intransitive) To be in dread, or great fear.

(transitive) To style (the hair) into dreadlocks.

Noun

dread (countable and uncountable, plural dreads)

Great fear in view of impending evil; fearful apprehension of danger; anticipatory terror.

Reverential or respectful fear; awe.

Somebody or something dreaded.

(obsolete) A person highly revered.

(obsolete) Fury; dreadfulness.

A Rastafarian.

(chiefly, in the plural) dreadlock

Adjective

dread (comparative dreader, superlative dreadest)

Terrible; greatly feared.

(archaic) Awe-inspiring; held in fearful awe.

Anagrams

• adder, dared, radde, re-add, readd

Source: Wiktionary

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Dread, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Dreaded; p. pr. & vb. n. Dreading.] Etym: [AS. dr, in comp.; akin to OS. dradan, OHG. tratan, both only in comp.]

Definition: To fear in a great degree; to regard, or look forward to, with terrific apprehension. When at length the moment dreaded through so many years came close, the dark cloud passed away from Johnson's mind. Macaulay.

Dread, v. i.

Definition: To be in dread, or great fear. Dread not, neither be afraid of them. Deut. i. 29.

Dread, n.

1. Great fear in view of impending evil; fearful apprehension of danger; anticipatory terror. The secret dread of divine displeasure. Tillotson. The dread of something after death. Shak.

2. Reverential or respectful fear; awe. The fear of you, and the dread of you, shall be upon every beast of the earth. Gen. ix. 2. His scepter shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty, Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings. Shak.

3. An object of terrified apprehension.

4. A person highly revered. [Obs.] "Una, his dear dread." Spenser.

5. Fury; dreadfulness. [Obs.] Spenser.

6. Doubt; as, out of dread. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Syn.

– Awe; fear; affright; terror; horror; dismay; apprehension. See Reverence.

Dread, a.

1. Exciting great fear or apprehension; causing terror; frightful; dreadful. A dread eternity! how surely mine. Young.

2. Inspiring with reverential fear; awful' venerable; as, dread sovereign; dread majesty; dread tribunal.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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