fear

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“
Your fear is as the fear of children who dare not go in the dark; but alas!

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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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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (15)

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

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Examples (50)

  • Your reaction to the growth of Islam in Britain (and Europe) is irrational, your fear is a phobia, and your concern is a self-fulfilling prophecy - according to 'thinker' Oborne. —  The British National Party
  • "Unless we generate a customer base that can support them, my fear is they'll go dark," he said of Aspen's downtown stores. —  Aspen Times - Top Stories
  • Another fear has been the growing proportion of people falling ill and dying out of reach of health care in rural areas. —  Mail & Guardian Online
  • Yes, boys and girls, the fear is here with the upcoming Metrodome DVD release of Lordi's —  Twitch
  • "I'm worried about anyone who would come into contact with this stuff, and my fear is the teenagers working at car washes who might not realize they're being exposed to it."
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Words tagged fear

spineless · parcopresis · dementophobia · terrified · threatened · paralyzed · afraid · tormented · frightened · scared · blench

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This word has been looked up 487 times.

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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

terror ·  pain ·  desire ·  danger ·  dread ·  joy ·  love ·  doubt ·  suspicion

Used in the same contextWord Family

fear:   fears ·  feared ·  fearing
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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