dread

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“
Mother never mentioned it, nor did I, but the dread was there.

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Definitions (29)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (10)

  1. transitive verb To be in terror of.
  2. transitive verb To anticipate with alarm, distaste, or reluctance: dreaded the long drive home.
  3. transitive verb Archaic To hold in awe or reverence.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (12)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (4)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (3)

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Examples (50)

  • Moreover, my dread was all the greater for the idea of death being so new to me. —  FSF,October2007
  • Worse than the dread was the emotion that tripped along at its heels. —  NOBODY'S DARLING
  • The old woman herself said absolutely nothing, but looking on with that gripping fear of the poorhouse in her eyes, she was a living embodiment of that dread which is so heartbreaking that the occupants of the County Infirmary themselves seem scarcely less wretched than those who are making their last stand against it. —  20 Years At Hull House
  • Mixed in with the helplessness and the dread was a great sadness for that lost possibility and all the death and misery that were to come from it.
  • Jessie may, perhaps, feel it the more, having most cause--for her dread is of a double nature. —  The Death Shot A Story Retold
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Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

fear ·  apprehension ·  anxiety ·  anger ·  sadness ·  awe ·  suspicion ·  shame ·  dismay ·  panic ·  alarm

Used in the same contextWord Family

dread:   dreading ·  dreaded
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English dreden, short for adreden, from Old English adrǣdan, from ondrǣdan, to advise against, fear : ond-, and-, against; see un-2 + rǣdan, to advise; see ar- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Early modern English also dred, dredde; from Middle English dreden, preterit dredde, dred, rarely dradde, drad, past participle dred, rarely drad, from Anglo-Saxon* ;drœ¯dan, only in comp. on-drœ¯dan, ā-draœ¯dan, of-drœ¯dan, Old Northumbrian on-drēeda, usually reflex., be afraid, dread, = Old Saxon an-drādan = Old High German in-trātan, Middle High German in-trāten, be afraid; remoter origin unknown.
  2. Early modern English also dred, dredde; from Middle English dred, usually drede, fear, doubt; from the verb.
 

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/drɛd/
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