dreadful B2 Topic:Describing Qualities US /ˈdɹɛd.fl̩/ See IPA manual Freq #5471 Meanings 1 adj Extremely bad or unpleasant. The weather on our holiday was absolutely dreadful. 2 adj Causing fear, shock, or great sadness. News of the dreadful accident shocked the whole town. Thesaurus Synonyms 1 adj · extremely bad or unpleasant. awfulterrible Etymology AI details From Middle English dredful, dredfull, dredeful (also dreful). By surface analysis, dread + -ful. dredful Middle English View etymology graph -> Topics Describing Qualities External links Google Images Cambridge Dictionary Wiktionary # dreadful **Type:** Word **Level:** B2 **Part of speech:** adj **IPA (US):** /ˈdɹɛd.fl̩/ **Frequency rank:** 5471 ## Meanings 1. Extremely bad or unpleasant. 2. Causing fear, shock, or great sadness. ## Examples - The weather on our holiday was absolutely dreadful. - News of the dreadful accident shocked the whole town. ## Roots and Affixes - Root: dredful ## Etymology From Middle English dredful, dredfull, dredeful (also dreful). By surface analysis, dread + -ful. ## AI Etymology Dreadful comes from Middle English dredful, dredfull, dredeful (also dreful). By surface analysis, dread + -ful. In current use, the main senses are “Extremely bad or unpleasant” and “Causing fear, shock, or great sadness”. ## Topics - Describing Qualities markdown