fear

Meaning

Noun

1. A strong, unpleasant emotion or feeling caused by actual or perceived danger or threat.
2. A phobia, a sense of fear induced by something or someone.
3. Terrified veneration or reverence, particularly towards God, gods, or sovereigns.
4. A feeling of dread and anxiety when waking after drinking a lot of alcohol, wondering what one did while drunk.

Verb

1. To be afraid of (something or someone); to consider or expect (something or someone) with alarm.
2. To feel fear.
3. To worry about, to feel concern for, to be afraid for.
4. To venerate; to feel awe towards.
5. To regret.
6. (obsolete) To cause fear to; to frighten.
7. (obsolete) To be anxious or solicitous for.
8. (obsolete) To suspect; to doubt.

Adj

Able; capable; stout; strong; sound.

Pronounced as (IPA)

/fɪə/

Etymology

From Middle English feer, fere, fer, from Old English fǣr, ġefǣr (“calamity, sudden danger, peril, sudden attack, terrible sight”), from Proto-Germanic *fērō, *fērą (“danger”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to attempt, try, research, risk”). Cognate with Dutch gevaar (“danger, risk, peril”), German Gefahr (“danger, risk, hazard”), Swedish fara (“danger, risk, peril”), Latin perīculum (“danger, risk, trial”), Albanian frikë (“fear, danger”), Romanian frică. Doublet of peril.
The verb is from Middle English feren, from Old English fǣran (“to frighten, raven”), from the noun. Cognate with the archaic Dutch verb varen (“to fear; to cause fear”).

Sentences

The boy knew the desert sensed his fear .