Dread

/dɹɛd/ · verb

Meaning

(transitive) To fear greatly..

Definitions by Sense

1. (transitive) To fear greatly.
2. To anticipate with fear.
3. (intransitive) To be in dread, or great fear.
4. (transitive) To style (the hair) into dreadlocks.
5. Great fear in view of impending evil; fearful apprehension of danger; anticipatory terror.
6. Reverential or respectful fear; awe.
7. Somebody or something dreaded.
8. (obsolete) A person highly revered.

Example Sentences

I'm dreading getting the results of the test, as it could decide my whole life.

Day by day, hole by hole our bearing reins were shortened, and instead of looking forward with pleasure to having my harness put on as I used to do, I began to dread it.

Dread not, neither be afraid of them.

My visit to the doctor is filling me with dread.

the secret dread of divine displeasure

the dread of something after death

They shared a common dread that he would begin moaning.

In 1928 [Martin] Heidegger succeeded [Edmund] Husserl to take a chair at Freiburg and in his inaugural lecture made a pronouncement that earned him a reputation as an archetypal metaphysician with his claim that our awareness of people as a whole depends on our experience of dread in the face of nothingness.

Synonyms for dread

Antonyms for dread

Related Words

Word Forms

• dreads
• dreading
• dreaded
• dreader
• dreadest

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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