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”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
dreaded (comparative more dreaded, superlative most dreaded)
Causing fear, dread or terror.
Wearing dreadlocks.
dreaded
simple past tense and past participle of dread
• dead-red, readded
Source: Wiktionary
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
6 June 2025
(noun) wit having a sharp and caustic quality; “he commented with typical pungency”; “the bite of satire”
The Boston Tea Party helped popularize coffee in America. The hefty tea tax imposed on the colonies in 1773 resulted in America switching from tea to coffee. In the lead up to the Revolutionary War, it became patriotic to sip java instead of tea. The Civil War made the drink more pervasive. Coffee helped energize tired troops, and drinking it became an expression of freedom.
