dread

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dread

(drĕd)

v. dread·ed, dread·ing, dreads

v.tr.

1. To be in terror of; fear intensely: "What I most dreaded as a child was the close danger of the atomic bomb" (James Carroll).

2. To anticipate with alarm, distaste, or reluctance: We dreaded the long drive home.

3. Archaic To hold in awe or reverence.

v.intr.

To be very afraid.

a. Profound fear; terror: "the dread of a fire that would end not just my life but everyone else's" (Jan Clausen).

b. Fearful or anxious anticipation: the dread of saying something foolish on stage. See Synonyms at fear.

c. An instance of fear or fearful anticipation: His dreads about school finally subsided.

d. A source of fear, awe, or reverence: The author's greatest dread is that the book will go unnoticed.

a. A dreadlock: She wears her hair in dreads.

b. A person who wears dreadlocks.

3. Archaic Awe; reverence.

adj.

1. Causing terror or fear: a dread disease. See Usage Note below.

2. Inspiring awe: the dread presence of the headmaster.

[Middle English dreden, short for adreden, from Old English adrǣdan, from ondrǣdan, to advise against, fear : ond-, and-, against; see un-² + rǣdan, to advise; see ar- in Indo-European roots.]

Usage Note: The adjective dread meaning "causing terror or fear" is often supplanted by the participle adjective dreaded. In our 2015 survey, 88 percent of the Usage Panel found the use of dreaded acceptable in the sentence After communicating with the enemy, Corporal Adams was labeled with the dreaded epithet "traitor." By contrast, only 69 percent of the Panel found the use of dread in the same sentence acceptable, while roughly one-third found its use unacceptable. It seems that dreaded is not merely gaining ground as an alternative to dread but actually replacing it as the adjective of choice to mean "causing fear."

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

dread

(drɛd)

vb (tr)

1. to anticipate with apprehension or terror

2. to fear greatly

3. archaic to be in awe of

4. great fear; horror

5. an object of terror

6. (Other Non-Christian Religions) slang a Rastafarian

7. archaic deep reverence

adj

literary awesome; awe-inspiring

[Old English ondrǣdan; related to Old Saxon antdrādan, Old High German intrātan]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

dread

(drɛd)

v.t.

1. to fear greatly: to dread death.

2. to be very reluctant to do, meet, or experience.

3. Archaic. to hold in respectful awe.

v.i.

4. to have fear or great reluctance.

5. terror or apprehension as to something in the future; great fear.

6. a person or thing dreaded.

8. Archaic. deep awe or reverence.

adj.

9. greatly feared; frightful; terrible.

10. held in awe or reverential fear.

[1125–75; Old English drǣdan; c. Old High German intrātan]

dread

Past participle: dreaded
Gerund: dreading

Imperative
dread
dread

Present
I dread
you dread
he/she/it dreads
we dread
you dread
they dread

Preterite
I dreaded
you dreaded
he/she/it dreaded
we dreaded
you dreaded
they dreaded

Present Continuous
I am dreading
you are dreading
he/she/it is dreading
we are dreading
you are dreading
they are dreading

Present Perfect
I have dreaded
you have dreaded
he/she/it has dreaded
we have dreaded
you have dreaded
they have dreaded

Past Continuous
I was dreading
you were dreading
he/she/it was dreading
we were dreading
you were dreading
they were dreading

Past Perfect
I had dreaded
you had dreaded
he/she/it had dreaded
we had dreaded
you had dreaded
they had dreaded

Future
I will dread
you will dread
he/she/it will dread
we will dread
you will dread
they will dread

Future Perfect
I will have dreaded
you will have dreaded
he/she/it will have dreaded
we will have dreaded
you will have dreaded
they will have dreaded

Future Continuous
I will be dreading
you will be dreading
he/she/it will be dreading
we will be dreading
you will be dreading
they will be dreading

Present Perfect Continuous
I have been dreading
you have been dreading
he/she/it has been dreading
we have been dreading
you have been dreading
they have been dreading

Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been dreading
you will have been dreading
he/she/it will have been dreading
we will have been dreading
you will have been dreading
they will have been dreading

Past Perfect Continuous
I had been dreading
you had been dreading
he/she/it had been dreading
we had been dreading
you had been dreading
they had been dreading

Conditional
I would dread
you would dread
he/she/it would dread
we would dread
you would dread
they would dread

Past Conditional
I would have dreaded
you would have dreaded
he/she/it would have dreaded
we would have dreaded
you would have dreaded
they would have dreaded

Collins English Verb Tables © HarperCollins Publishers 2011

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

dread - fearful expectation or anticipation; "the student looked around the examination room with apprehension"

fear, fearfulness, fright - an emotion experienced in anticipation of some specific pain or danger (usually accompanied by a desire to flee or fight)

boding, foreboding, premonition, presentiment - a feeling of evil to come; "a steadily escalating sense of foreboding"; "the lawyer had a presentiment that the judge would dismiss the case"

suspense - apprehension about what is going to happen

Verb

dread - be afraid or scared of; be frightened of; "I fear the winters in Moscow"; "We should not fear the Communists!"

panic - be overcome by a sudden fear; "The students panicked when told that final exams were less than a week away"

Adj.

dread - 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"

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

alarming - frightening because of an awareness of danger

dread

verb

1. fear, shrink from, be anxious about, flinch from, cringe at the thought of, quail from, shudder to think about, have cold feet about (informal), anticipate with horror, tremble to think about I'm dreading Christmas this year.

noun

1. fear, alarm, horror, terror, dismay, fright, apprehension, consternation, trepidation, fearfulness, apprehensiveness, affright She thought with dread of the cold winters to come.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

dread

verb

To be afraid of:

Idiom: have one's heart in one's mouth.

noun

1. Great agitation and anxiety caused by the expectation or the realization of danger:

affright, alarm, apprehension, fear, fearfulness, fright, funk, horror, panic, terror, trepidation.

Idiom: fear and trembling.

2. Archaic. The emotion aroused by something awe-inspiring or astounding:

Translations

رُعْب، ذُعْريُرْعِب، يخاف، يَفْزَع، يَرْتَعِب

bát seděsit sehrůzastrach

frygtfrygtegrue forrædselskræk

retteg

óttastótti

baimė

baidītiesbailesšausmas

desiť sa

büyük korkuçok korkmakdehşetödü patlamak

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

dread

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

dread

(dred) noun

great fear. She lives in dread of her child being drowned in the canal; His voice was husky with dread.

verb

to fear greatly. We were dreading his arrival.

ˈdreadful adjective

1. terrible. a dreadful accident.

2. very bad or annoying. What dreadful children!

ˈdreadfulness nounˈdreadfully adverb

extremely. dreadfully ill; dreadfully clever.