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fearful - Meaning and Examples

Meaning of 'fearful' (Webster Dictionary)

1 . Fearful [ a.]
- Full of fear, apprehension, or alarm; afraid; frightened.
- inclined to fear; easily frightened; without courage; timid.
- Indicating, or caused by, fear.
- Inspiring fear or awe; exciting apprehension or terror; terrible; frightful; dreadful.

Meaning of 'fearful' (Princeton's WordNet)

1 . fearful [ a]
Meaning (1):
- lacking courage; ignobly timid and faint-hearted
Example in sentence:
  • cowardly dogs, ye will not aid me then
2 . fearful [ s]
Meaning (2):
- causing fear or dread or terror
Example in sentence:
  • a career or vengeance so direful that London was shocked;
  • a dreadful storm;
  • a fearful howling;
  • a terrible curse;
  • an awful risk;
  • dire news;
  • horrendous explosions shook the city;
  • polio is no longer the dreaded disease it once was;
  • the awful war;
  • the dread presence of the headmaster
Meaning (3):
- experiencing or showing fear
Example in sentence:
  • a fearful glance;
  • fearful of criticism
Meaning (4):
- extremely distressing
Example in sentence:
  • a frightful mistake;
  • fearful slum conditions
Meaning (5):
- timid by nature or revealing timidity
Example in sentence:
  • cast fearful glances at the large dog;
  • in a timorous tone;
  • timorous little mouse

Nearby Words:

feaberry feague feal fealty fear feared fearer fearfully fearfulness fearing

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