FEARFUL

fearful

(adjective) experiencing or showing fear; “a fearful glance”; “fearful of criticism”

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”

fearful, timorous, trepid

(adjective) timid by nature or revealing timidity; “timorous little mouse”; “in a timorous tone”; “cast fearful glances at the large dog”

cowardly, fearful

(adjective) lacking courage; ignobly timid and faint-hearted; “cowardly dogs, ye will not aid me then”- P.B.Shelley

fearful, frightful

(adjective) extremely distressing; “fearful slum conditions”; “a frightful mistake”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Adjective

fearful (comparative fearfuller or fearfuler or more fearful, superlative most fearful)

Frightening.

Tending to fear; timid.

(dated) Terrible; shockingly bad.

(now rare) Frightened; filled with terror.

Synonyms

• (frightened): frightened, timid, timorous

• See also afraid and cowardly

Adverb

fearful (comparative more fearful, superlative most fearful)

(dialect) Extremely; fearfully.

Anagrams

• Lauffer

Source: Wiktionary

Fear"ful, a.

1. Full of fera, apprehension, or alarm; afraid; frightened. Anxious amidst all their success, and fearful amidat all their power. Bp. Warburton.

2. inclined to fear; easily frightened; without courage; timid. What man is there that is fearful and fain-hearted Deut. xx. 8.

3. Indicating, or caused by, fear. Cold fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh. Shak.

4. Inspiring fear or awe; exciting apprehension or terror; terrible; frightful; dreadful. This glorious and fearful name, The Lord thy God. Deut. xxviii. 58. Death is a fearful thing. Shak. In dreams they fearful precipices tread. Dryden.

Syn.

– Apprehensive; afraid; timid; timorous; ho

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition