fearful

English

Alternative forms

• fearefull (obsolete)
• fearfull (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English ferful, fervol, equivalent to fear +‎ -ful.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfɪəfəl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfɪɹfəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪəɹfʊl
• Hyphenation: fear‧ful

Adjective

fearful (comparative fearfuller or fearfuler or more fearful, superlative fearfullest or fearfulest or most fearful)

1. Frightening.
2. Tending to fear; timid.

   a fearful boy

3. (dated) Terrible; shockingly bad.
   • 1859, Charles Dickens, The Haunted House:

     But every day after dinner, for an hour, we were all together, and then the Favourite and the rest of the Royal Hareem competed who should most beguile the leisure of the Serene Haroun reposing from the cares of State — which were generally, as in most affairs of State, of an arithmetical character, the Commander of the Faithful being a fearful boggler at a sum.

4. (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 […]

Synonyms

• (frightened): frightened, timid, timorous
• See also Thesaurus:afraid and Thesaurus:cowardly

Translations

frightening

• Bulgarian: страшен (bg) (strašen)
• Czech: děsivý, hrozný (cs), hrozivý (cs), strašlivý
• French: effrayant (fr), redoutable (fr)
• German: furchtbar (de)
• Greek: φοβερός (el) (foverós), τρομακτικός (el) (tromaktikós)

  Ancient: φοβερός (phoberós)

• Korean: 무섭다 (ko) (museopda), 두렵다 (ko) (duryeopda)

• Latin: timidus, meticulosus, dirus
• Latvian: biedējošs, baismīgs
• Middle Korean: 므ᅀᅴ〮엽다〮 (mùzúyyèptá), 두립〮다〮 (twùlíptá), 저프다〮 (cèphùtá)
• Plautdietsch: forchtsom
• Portuguese: amedrontador
• Russian: стра́шный (ru) (strášnyj), ужа́сный (ru) (užásnyj)
• Sanskrit: भीम (sa) (bhīma)
• Turkish: korkulu (tr)
• Vietnamese: đáng sợ (vi)

tending to fear

• Arabic: خَوَّاف‎ (ḵawwāf)
• Czech: bázlivý (cs), lekavý
• Danish: frygtsom
• Dutch: angstig (nl), bang (nl), vreesachtig (nl)
• French: peureux (fr), craintif (fr)

• German: furchtsam (de), ängstlich (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: δειλός (deilós)

• Latin: pavidus, timidus
• Plautdietsch: enjstlich, schietrich

terrible

• Bulgarian: ужасен (bg) (užasen)
• Czech: hrozný (cs), děsivý, strašlivý
• French: terrible (fr), affreux (fr)
• German: furchtbar (de)

• Greek: φοβερός (el) (foverós), τρομερός (el) (tromerós)
• Romanian: groaznic (ro)
• Russian: ужа́сный (ru) (užásnyj)

frightened, filled with terror

• Armenian: երկչոտ (hy) (erkčʿot)
• Belarusian: бая́зны (bajázny)
• Bulgarian: уплашен (bg) (uplašen), страхлив (bg) (strahliv)
• Czech: vystrašený, ochromený strachem
• French: peureux (fr)
• German: verängstigt (de)
• Gothic: 𐍆𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌷𐍄𐍃 (faurhts)
• Greek: φοβισμένος (el) (fovisménos)
• Irish: anbhách
• Italian: impaurito (it), spaventato (it), pavido (it)

• Latin: pavidus, timidus
• Latvian: nobijies
• Manx: faitagh
• Maori: ihiihi, uruwehi
• Portuguese: amedrontado (pt)
• Russian: испу́ганный (ru) (ispúgannyj), пугли́вый (ru) (puglívyj)
• Spanish: miedoso (es), temeroso (es)
• Vietnamese: sợ hãi (vi), sợ sệt (vi), sợ (vi)

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 Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Spanish: terrible, espantoso; tremendo; temeroso

Adverb

fearful (comparative more fearful, superlative most fearful)

1. (dialect) Extremely; fearfully.
   • 2009, Juliette Shapiro, Mr. Darcy's Decision: A Sequel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice:

     “He is fearful handsome, as you know,” she said remorsefully, “you cannot imagine, Georgiana, the joy when I first fell in love with him.”

   • 2014, Diana Wynne Jones, The Chrestomanci series:

     “It's a fearful strong charm needs dragon's blood,” he said plaintively.

   • 2014, Michael Brock, Eleanor Brock, Margot Asquith's Great War Diary 1914-1916:

     His Dardanelles expedition gave the Turk a fearful long start.

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• Lauffer