fear

Meaning

Noun

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

Verb

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

Adj

Able; capable; stout; strong; sound.

Synonyms

dread

fright

be afraid

terror

afraid

be afraid of

alarm

anxiety

apprehension

horror

awe

scare

😨

concern

worry

afraid of

be frightened

timidity

panic

be scared

frightened

frighten

reverence

apprehend

scared

revere

uneasiness

anguish

misgivings

misgiving

agony

doubt

suspicion

cowardice

consternation

venerate

trepidation

care

phobia

tremble

dismay

fearfulness

danger

❗

solicitude

startle

be anxious

timidness

disquiet

affright

funk

terrify

Translations

peur

😨

paura

😨

Angst

😨

craindre

😨

miedo

😨

Furcht

😨

crainte

😨

temer

😨

temere

😨

medo

😨

temor

😨

fürchten

😨

angst

😨

timore

😨

Pronounced as (IPA)

/fɪə/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: feer

Inherited from Old English: fǣr

Cognate with Dutch: gevaar

Cognate with German: Gefahr

Cognate with Swedish: fara

Cognate with Latin: perīculum

Cognate with Albanian: frikë

Cognate with Romanian: frică

Inherited from Middle English: feren

Inherited from Old English: fǣran

Cognate with Dutch: -

Inherited from Middle English: fere

Inherited from Old English: fēre

Cognate with Scots: fere

Cognate with Middle High German: gevüere

Cognate with Swedish: för

Cognate with Icelandic: færr

In summary

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 go through, carry forth, try”). 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 .

To forget his fear of flying , he imagined how the stewardess would look like in a bikini .