Adjacent Words

Fearful definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

FE'ARFUL, a.
1. Affected by fear; feeling pain in expectation of evil; apprehensive with solicitude; afraid. I am fearful of the consequences of rash conduct. Hence,
2. Timid; timorous; wanting courage.
What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted?
Deutoronomy 20.
3. Terrible; impressing fear; frightful; dreadful.
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10.
4. Awful; to be reverenced.
O Lord, who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises? Exodus 15.
That thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, Jehovah, thy God. Deutoronomy 28.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: experiencing or showing fear; "a fearful glance"; "fearful of criticism"
2: 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" [syn: awful, dire, direful, dread, dreaded, dreadful, fearful, fearsome, frightening, horrendous, horrific, terrible]
3: lacking courage; ignobly timid and faint-hearted; "cowardly dogs, ye will not aid me then"- P.B.Shelley [syn: cowardly, fearful] [ant: brave, courageous]
4: extremely distressing; "fearful slum conditions"; "a frightful mistake" [syn: fearful, frightful]
5: timid by nature or revealing timidity; "timorous little mouse"; "in a timorous tone"; "cast fearful glances at the large dog" [syn: fearful, timorous, trepid]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Date: 14th century 1. causing or likely to cause fear, fright, or alarm especially because of dangerous quality <a fearful storm> 2. a. full of fear <fearful for his safety> b. indicating or arising from fear <a fearful glance> c. inclined to fear ; timorous 3. very great or bad — used as an intensive <a fearful waste> <fearful slum conditions> • fearfully adverb • fearfulness noun Synonyms: fearful, apprehensive, afraid mean disturbed by fear. fearful implies often a timorous or worrying temperament <the child is fearful of loud noises>. apprehensive suggests a state of mind and implies a premonition of evil or danger <apprehensive of being found out>. afraid often suggests weakness or cowardice and regularly implies inhibition of action or utterance <afraid to speak the truth>.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 (usu. foll. by of, or that + clause) afraid. 2 terrible, awful. 3 colloq. extremely unwelcome or unpleasant (a fearful row). Derivatives: fearfully adv. fearfulness n.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Fearful Fear"ful, a. 1. Full of fear, 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 faint-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; horrible; distressing; shocking; frightful; dreadful; awful.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. If you are fearful of something, you are afraid of it. (FORMAL) Bankers were fearful of a world banking crisis... I had often been very fearful, very angry, and very isolated. ADJ: usu v-link ADJ, oft ADJ of n, ADJ that 2. You use fearful to emphasize how serious or bad a situation is. (FORMAL) ...the fearful consequences which might flow from unilateral military moves. = dreadful ADJ: ADJ n [emphasis] 3. Fearful is used to emphasize that something is very bad. (INFORMAL, OLD-FASHIONED) You gave me a fearful shock! ADJ: ADJ n [emphasis]

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Afraid, apprehensive, haunted with fear. 2. Timid, timorous, nervous, faint-hearted, chicken-hearted, white-livered, cowardly, pusillanimous, showing the white feather, easily frightened. 3. Terrible, dreadful, frightful, dire, direful. 4. Awful, to be reverenced or revered.

Moby Thesaurus

aflutter, afraid, aghast, agitated, alarmed, alarming, all nerves, all-overish, anxious, anxioused up, appalling, apprehensive, atrocious, awful, awing, baleful, bashful, bothered, chicken, chickenhearted, chilling, concerned, coward, cowardly, cowed, daunted, daunting, deadly, deterrent, deterring, diffident, dire, direful, discomposed, disconcerting, discouraging, disgusting, disheartening, dismayed, dismaying, disquieted, disquieting, disturbed, dreadful, edgy, excitable, fainthearted, fear-inspiring, fearing, fearsome, foreboding, formidable, frightened, frightening, frightful, funking, funky, ghastly, goosy, grim, grisly, gruesome, heinous, henhearted, hesitant, hideous, high-strung, horrendous, horrible, horrific, horrifying, howling, in a pucker, in a stew, in fear, intimidated, irritable, jittery, jumpy, lily-livered, loathsome, lurid, macabre, malign, milk-livered, milksoppish, milksoppy, misgiving, monstrous, mousy, nauseating, nauseous, nerves on edge, nervous, nervy, on edge, on tenterhooks, overanxious, overapprehensive, overawing, overstrung, overtimid, overtimorous, overwhelming, panic-prone, panic-stricken, panicky, perturbed, pigeonhearted, pusillanimous, rabbity, redoubtable, repugnant, repulsive, revolting, rousing, scared, scaring, scary, shaky, shivery, shocking, shrinking, shy, sinister, sissified, sissy, skittery, skittish, soft, solicitous, startling, startlish, strained, sublime, suspenseful, tense, terrible, terrific, terrified, terrifying, terror-stricken, thumping, timid, timorous, trembling, tremendous, tremulous, trepidant, trigger-happy, troubled, uneasy, unmanly, unmanned, unspeakable, unwilling, weak, weak-kneed, weakhearted, whacking, white-livered, yellow, zealous