fear

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“
Tired, yes, and no doubt a little afraid, but beneath the fatigue and the fear was a confidence I had not seen before, had not imagined.

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Definitions (41)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (14)

  1. noun A feeling of agitation and anxiety caused by the presence or imminence of danger.
  2. noun A state or condition marked by this feeling: living in fear.
  3. noun A feeling of disquiet or apprehension: a fear of looking foolish.
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Examples

  • If so, didn't he owe it to Clark-and to Lara to go to Montesangre and find out the details of the child's death? —  Where There's Smoke
  • This fear was apart from earthly or mortal fear, as the sound of the footfalls was apart from mortal tread. —  People of the Dark
  • But weighed against her fear was the very real possibility that the village might not survive the next winter. —  Fiddler Fair
  • Just when my fear was at an all-time high, Reacher and the gunner finally broke through the thicket to release us from the trap. —  Chickenhawk
  • Tired, yes, and no doubt a little afraid, but beneath the fatigue and the fear was a confidence I had not seen before, had not imagined. —  Virginity
 

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Words tagged fear

afraid · blench · caitiff · cowardly · craven · fretful · terrified · recreant · poltroon · pusillanimous · screech · paralyzed · shriek · premonition · redoubtable · spook

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Fear has been looked up 750 times, favorited 0 times, listed 27 times, and commented on twice.

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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

terror ·  pain ·  desire ·  danger ·  dread ·  joy ·  love ·  doubt ·  suspicion
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 fer, from Old English fǣr, danger, sudden calamity; see per-3 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Early modern English also feare, feere; from Middle English feer, fere, fer, fear, from Anglo-Saxon fæ¯r, fear, terror, in comp. generally implying sudden danger, = Old Saxon fār, a plot, snare, = Old Dutch vaer, Dutch gevaar, danger, = Old High German fāra. Middle High German vāre, a plot, treason, danger, fright, German gefahr, danger, = Icelandic fār, bale, harm, mischief, a plague, = Swedish fara = Danish fare, danger (the sense and perhaps the form due to the D. and G.); not in Gothic (Moesogothic); cf. Goth, fērja, a spy, Latin periculum, danger, peril, Greek πεῑρα, an attempt, attack; words ult. connected, having orig. reference to the “perils of the way,” as waylaying, sudden attack, sudden alarms, etc., the Teutonic root being that of Gothic (Moesogothic) faran, Anglo-Saxon faran, etc., English fare, go: see fare. Cf. feer =fear, a companion, from the same source. Hence, fearful, fearsome, ferly, etc.
  2. from Middle English feren, from Anglo-Saxon fæ¯ran, frighten, more commonly in comp. ā-fæ¯ran, frighten (whence English afeard, q. v.), = Old Saxon fārōn = Dutch vervaren = Old High German fārjan, lie in wait, plot against, frighten, = Old Danish forfære (Danish forfærde) = Swedish förfära, frighten; from the noun: see fear, n.
 

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