dreadful
Pronunciation: /ˈdɹɛd.fl̩/
The English word “dreadful” has 10 meanings listed here.
adjective
- Genuinely horrific, awful, or alarming; dangerous, risky.
- Unpleasant, awful, very bad (also used as an intensifier).
- Awesome, awe-inspiring, causing feelings of reverence.
- Scared, afraid, frightened.
- Timid, easily frightened.
- Reverential, full of pious awe.
adverb
noun
- 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.
Etymology
From Middle English dredful, dredfull, dredeful (also dreful). By surface analysis, dread + -ful.
Keep exploring: in the interactive dictionary every word of a definition is a link. Open “dreadful” there
More English words
About this dictionary
The English dictionary on Glottosphere has 650,529 entries with a page. Browse the English dictionary.
Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.