fearful

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˈfɪɹfəl/ UK /ˈfɪəfəl/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

adj
feeling or causing fear; dreadful

They were fearful of what lay beyond the dark woods.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · feeling or causing fear;... afraid frightened apprehensive timid terrified anxious scared nervous

Opposites

fearless brave bold courageous unafraid

Word family

Forms fearfullestfearfulness

Derived forms fearfullyfearfulness

Related forms fear feared fearless fearsome

Etymology

From 'fear' + the suffix '-ful'. 'Fear' is from Old English 'fǣr' ('calamity, sudden danger'), from Proto-Germanic '*fērō' ('danger'), from Proto-Indo-European '*per-' ('to try, risk, lead over').

fǣr Old English *per- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# fearful

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˈfɪɹfəl/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈfɪəfəl/

## Meanings
1. feeling or causing fear; dreadful

## Examples
- They were fearful of what lay beyond the dark woods.

## Synonyms
- afraid
- frightened
- apprehensive
- timid
- terrified
- anxious
- scared
- nervous

## Antonyms
- fearless
- brave
- bold
- courageous
- unafraid

## Derived Forms
- fearfully
- fearfulness

## Related Forms
- fear
- feared
- fearless
- fearsome

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: fǣr
- Root: *per-

## Etymology
From 'fear' + the suffix '-ful'. 'Fear' is from Old English 'fǣr' ('calamity, sudden danger'), from Proto-Germanic '*fērō' ('danger'), from Proto-Indo-European '*per-' ('to try, risk, lead over').

## AI Etymology
Fearful is from 'fear' + the suffix '-ful'. 'Fear' is from Old English 'fǣr' ('calamity, sudden danger'), from Proto-Germanic '*fērō' ('danger'), from Proto-Indo-European '*per-' ('to try, risk, lead over'). In present-day use, it means feeling or causing fear; dreadful. Derived formations include fearfully and fearfulness. Related vocabulary includes fear, feared, fearless, and fearsome.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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