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FEARFUL
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Experiencing or showing fear
Example:
fearful of criticism
Classified under:
Similar:
afraid (filled with fear or apprehension)
Derivation:
fearfulness (an emotion experienced in anticipation of some specific pain or danger (usually accompanied by a desire to flee or fight))
Sense 2
Meaning:
Causing fear or dread or terror
Example:
a terrible curse
Synonyms:
awful; dire; direful; dread; dreaded; dreadful; fearful; fearsome; frightening; horrendous; horrific; terrible
Classified under:
Similar:
alarming (frightening because of an awareness of danger)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Timid by nature or revealing timidity
Example:
cast fearful glances at the large dog
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
timid (showing fear and lack of confidence)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Lacking courage; ignobly timid and faint-hearted
Example:
cowardly dogs, ye will not aid me then
Synonyms:
cowardly; fearful
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
caitiff (despicably mean and cowardly)
chicken; chickenhearted; lily-livered; white-livered; yellow; yellow-bellied (easily frightened)
craven; recreant (lacking even the rudiments of courage; abjectly fearful)
dastard; dastardly (despicably cowardly)
faint; faint-hearted; fainthearted; timid (lacking conviction or boldness or courage)
funky (in a state of cowardly fright)
poltroon (characterized by complete cowardliness)
poor-spirited; pusillanimous; unmanly (lacking in courage and manly strength and resolution; contemptibly fearful)
Also:
afraid (filled with fear or apprehension)
timid (showing fear and lack of confidence)
ignoble (completely lacking nobility in character or quality or purpose)
Attribute:
cowardice; cowardliness (the trait of lacking courage)
Derivation:
fearfulness (the trait of being afraid)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Extremely distressing
Example:
a frightful mistake
Synonyms:
fearful; frightful
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
bad (having undesirable or negative qualities)
Context examples:
He sprang back, bristling and snarling, fearful of the unseen and unknown.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
He was curious to observe them, fearful of being noticed by them.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
It is indeed, a fearful place.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I travelled only at night, fearful of encountering the visage of a human being.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
Emma was obliged to ask what they had told her, though fearful of its producing Mr. Elton.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
Miss Crawford was very right in what she said of you the other day: that you seemed almost as fearful of notice and praise as other women were of neglect.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
I felt a little uneasy—a little fearful of my sister's happiness with him in marriage, because I knew that his conduct had not been always quite right.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
He is the most fearful of giving pain, of wounding expectation, and the most incapable of being selfish, of any body I ever saw.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAMA) Anxious mood; worries, anticipation of the worst, fearful anticipation, irritability.
(HAMA - Anxious Mood, NCI Thesaurus)
For the old lady was in the middle of her story, and long before it was done, Jo was off again, making more droll revelations and committing still more fearful blunders.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
