dreadful
English
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
Etymology
From Middle English dredful, dredfull, dredeful (also dreful), equivalent to dread + -ful.
Adjective
dreadful (comparative more dreadful, superlative most dreadful)
- Full of something causing dread, whether
- Genuinely horrific, awful, or alarming; dangerous, risky.
- 1900, L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chapter 23:
- "...Aunt Em will surely think something dreadful has happened to me, and that will make her put on mourning..."
- 1900, L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chapter 23:
- (hyperbolic) Unpleasant, awful, very bad (also used as an intensifier).
- 1682, T. Creech's translation of Lucretius, De Natura Rerum, Book II, 52:
- Here some... Look dreadful gay in their own sparkling blood.
- 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 17, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
- This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything.
- 2011 December 10, Marc Higginson, “Bolton 1-2 Aston Villa”, in BBC Sport:
- After a dreadful performance in the opening 45 minutes, they upped their game after the break...
- 1682, T. Creech's translation of Lucretius, De Natura Rerum, Book II, 52:
- (obsolete) Awesome, awe-inspiring, causing feelings of reverence.
- Genuinely horrific, awful, or alarming; dangerous, risky.
- (obsolete) Full of dread, whether
- Scared, afraid, frightened.
- Timid, easily frightened.
- Reverential, full of pious awe.
Adverb
dreadful (comparative more dreadful, superlative most dreadful)
- (informal) Dreadfully.
- 2003, David Davis, Of Preachers and Pagans, page 199:
- I'm sorry, Miz Terrigan. I'm dreadful sorry.
- 2007, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Professor At The Breakfast Table, page 130:
- You don't look so dreadful poor in the face as you did a while back.
- 2015, Hesba Stretton, Jessica's first prayer: A Christian Fiction of Hesba Stretton:
- "No," she replied, coolly, "and I shall want my dinner dreadful bad afore I get it, I know. You don't often feel dreadful hungry, do you, sir?
Usage notes
The senses of "dreadful" synonymous with "afraid" similarly use the infinitive or the preposition "of": they were dreadful to build or the boy was dreadful of his majesty. These senses are, however, now obsolete.
When used as an intensifier, "dreadful" is actually a form of the adverb "dreadfully" and thus considered informal or vulgar.
Synonyms
- See Thesaurus:frightening
- See Thesaurus:bad
Derived terms
Translations
causing dread
|
Noun
dreadful (plural dreadfuls)
- A shocker: a report of a crime written in a provokingly lurid style.
- A journal or broadsheet printing such reports.
- A shocking or sensational crime.
Derived terms
Further reading
- Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
Categories:
- English terms with audio links
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English adjectives suffixed with -ful
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English hyperboles
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English adverbs
- English informal terms
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English adverbs suffixed with -ful
- English nouns suffixed with -ful
- en:Fear