fearful

English

Alternative forms

• fearefull (obsolete)
• fearfull (obsolete)

Etymology

From fear +‎ -ful.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈfɪəfəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

fearful (comparative fearfuller, superlative fearfullest)

1. Frightening.
2. (now rare) Frightened, filled with terror.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.4:

     Those two great champions did attonce pursew / The fearefull damzell with incessant payns [...].

3. Terrible.
4. Tending to fear.

   fearful boy

Synonyms

• (frightened): frightened, timid, timorous
• See also Wikisaurus:afraid

Translations

frightening

• Bulgarian: страшен (bg) (strašen)
• French: effrayant (fr) m, effrayante (fr) f, redoutable (fr)
• German: furchtbar (de)
• Greek: φοβερός (el) (foverós) m

• Latin: timidus (la) m, meticulosus (la), pavidus (la)
• Latvian: biedējošs (lv) m, biedējoša (lv) f
• Russian: страшный (ru) (strášnyj), ужасный (ru) (užásnyj)
• Turkish: korkulu (tr)

frightened, filled with terror

• Bulgarian: уплашен (bg) (uplašen), страхлив (bg) (strahliv)
• French: peureux (fr) m, peureuse (fr) f, craintif (fr) m, craintive (fr) f
• German: furchtsam (de), ängstlich (de)
• Greek: φοβισμένος (el) (fovisménos) m
• Italian: impaurito (it), spaventato (it), pavido (it)

• Latin: timidus (la)
• Latvian: nobijies (lv)
• Manx: faitagh (gv)
• Russian: испуганный (ru) (ispúgannyj), пугливый (ru) (puglívyj)
• Spanish: miedoso (es), temeroso (es)

terrible

• Bulgarian: ужасен (bg) (užasen)
• French: terrible (fr), affreux (fr) m, affreuse (fr) f
• German: furchtbar (de)

• Greek: φοβερός (el) (foverós) m
• Russian: ужасный (ru) (užásnyj)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Spanish: terrible, espantoso; tremendo; temeroso

External links

• fearful in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• fearful in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911