dread

Meaning

Verb

1. To fear greatly.
2. To anticipate with fear.
3. To be in dread, or great fear.
4. To style (the hair) into dreadlocks.

Noun

1. Great fear in view of impending evil; fearful apprehension of danger; anticipatory terror.
2. Reverential or respectful fear; awe.
3. Somebody or something dreaded.
4. (obsolete) A person highly revered.
5. (obsolete) Fury; dreadfulness.
6. A Rastafarian.
7. (slang) Clipping of dreadlock.
8. (slang) Clipping of dreadnought.

Adj

1. Terrible; greatly feared; dreaded.
2. Awe-inspiring; held in fearful awe.

Synonyms

fear

😨

terror

fright

horror

be afraid

apprehension

awe

be afraid of

alarm

dreadful

scare

😨

dismay

dreaded

apprehend

terrible

be scared

tremble

consternation

anxiety

awful

fearsome

panic

horrible

fearful

😨

worry

funk

be frightened

shrink from

direful

horrendous

horrific

wonder at

be fearful

shirk

grisly

apprehensiveness

misgiving

afraid

god-awful

apphrehend

afraid of

be anxious

frightening

trepidation

phobia

anguish

frighten

dire

reverence

trembling

be averse to

be in awe of

be terrified by

to be eerie

to be eery

to be horrible

to be timid

reverential fear

extreme fear

boggard

boggart

be loth to

be reluctant to

not like to

not want to

affrightment

abominable

dwere

affright

atrocious

awing

bad

👎

bogle

cower

creepy

discomfiture

disheartenment

dislike

dismember

distraction

distress

faint-hearted

fearfulness

frightful

give up

gory

grotesque

gruesome

hatred

hideous

macabre

monstrous

morbid

object to

outrageous

pessimism

quake

raging

startle

terrify

terrorize

timorousness

be unwilling to

tremendous

tremor

unspeakable

venerate

be alarmed

be in dread of

be nervous

be shy

well now

be bewildered

pain

be disinclined to

great fear

be cowardly

Pronounced as (IPA)

/dɹɛd/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: dreden

Inherited from Old English: drǣdan

Cognate with Old Saxon: antdrādan

Cognate with Old High German: intrātan

Cognate with Middle High German: entrāten

Inherited from Middle English: drede

Cognate with Old Frisian: drēd

In summary

From Middle English dreden, from Old English drǣdan (“to fear, dread”), aphetic form of ondrǣdan (“to fear, dread”), from Proto-West Germanic *andarādan, equivalent to Old English and- + rǣdan (whence read); corresponding to an aphesis of earlier adread.
Akin to Old Saxon antdrādan, andrādan (“to fear, dread”), Old High German intrātan (“to fear”), Middle High German entrāten (“to fear, dread, frighten”).