fear.
A strong, unpleasant emotion or feeling caused by actual or perceived danger or threat.
Meaning & usage
A strong, unpleasant emotion or feeling caused by actual or perceived danger or threat.
He was struck by fear on seeing the snake.
A phobia, a sense of fear induced by something or someone in particular.
Not everybody has the same fears.
I have a fear of ants.
Something one is afraid of; the object of one’s fear.
Spiders are my greatest fear.
Terrified veneration or reverence, particularly towards God, gods, or sovereigns.
A feeling of dread and anxiety when waking after drinking a lot of alcohol, wondering what one did while drunk.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English feer, fere, fer (“fear”), from Old English fǣr, ġefǣr (“calamity, sudden danger, peril, sudden attack, terrible sight”), from Proto-Germanic *fērō, *fērą (“danger”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to go through, carry forth, try”). Cognate with Dutch gevaar (“danger, risk, peril”), German Gefahr (“danger, hazard, risk”), Danish fare (“danger, hazard, risk”), Faroese and Icelandic fár (“accident, anger, calamity”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk fare (“danger”), Swedish fara (“danger, risk, peril”), Latin perīculum (“danger, risk, trial”), Ancient Greek πεῖρα (peîra, “trial, experiment”), Armenian փորձ (pʻorj, “attempt”). Doublet of peril. The verb is from Middle English feren, from Old English fǣran (“to frighten, raven”), from the noun. Cognate with the archaic Dutch verb varen (“to fear, to cause fear”).
To be afraid of (something or someone); to consider or expect (something or someone) with alarm.
I fear the worst will happen.
To feel fear.
Never fear; help is always near.
To worry about, to feel concern for, to be afraid for [with for].
She fears for her son’s safety.
To venerate; to feel awe towards.
People who fear God can be found in Christian churches.
To regret.
I fear I have bad news for you: your husband has died.
To cause fear to; to frighten.
To be anxious or solicitous for.
To suspect; to doubt.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English feer, fere, fer (“fear”), from Old English fǣr, ġefǣr (“calamity, sudden danger, peril, sudden attack, terrible sight”), from Proto-Germanic *fērō, *fērą (“danger”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to go through, carry forth, try”). Cognate with Dutch gevaar (“danger, risk, peril”), German Gefahr (“danger, hazard, risk”), Danish fare (“danger, hazard, risk”), Faroese and Icelandic fár (“accident, anger, calamity”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk fare (“danger”), Swedish fara (“danger, risk, peril”), Latin perīculum (“danger, risk, trial”), Ancient Greek πεῖρα (peîra, “trial, experiment”), Armenian փորձ (pʻorj, “attempt”). Doublet of peril. The verb is from Middle English feren, from Old English fǣran (“to frighten, raven”), from the noun. Cognate with the archaic Dutch verb varen (“to fear, to cause fear”).
Able; capable; stout; strong; sound.
hale and fear
Where this word comes from
From Middle English fere, feore, from Old English fēre (“able to go, fit for service”), from Proto-Germanic *fēriz (“passable”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to put across, ferry”). Cognate with Scots fere, feir (“well, active, sound”), Middle High German gevüere (“able, capable, fit, serviceable”), Swedish för (“capable, able, stout”), Icelandic fær (“able”). Related to fare.
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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.