dreadful.
Full of something causing dread, whether
Meaning & usage
Full of something causing dread, whether Genuinely horrific, awful, or alarming; dangerous, risky.
Full of something causing dread, whether Unpleasant, awful, very bad (also used as an intensifier).
Full of something causing dread, whether Awesome, awe-inspiring, causing feelings of reverence.
Full of dread, whether Scared, afraid, frightened.
Full of dread, whether Timid, easily frightened.
Full of dread, whether Reverential, full of pious awe.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English dredful, dredfull, dredeful (also dreful). By surface analysis, dread + -ful.
Dreadfully.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English dredful, dredfull, dredeful (also dreful). By surface analysis, dread + -ful.
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.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English dredful, dredfull, dredeful (also dreful). By surface analysis, dread + -ful.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.