fear ‧ ful /ˈfɪəf ə l $ ˈfɪr-/ BrE AmE adjective
[ Word Family: noun : ↑ fear , ↑ fearfulness ≠ ↑ fearlessness ; adjective : ↑ fearful ≠ ↑ fearless , ↑ fearsome ; verb : ↑ fear ; adverb : ↑ fearfully ≠ ↑ fearlessly ]
1 . formal frightened that something bad might happen:
a shy and fearful child
fearful of
People are fearful of rising crime in the area.
fearful that
Officials are fearful that the demonstrations will cause new violence.
2 . British English extremely bad SYN awful , terrible :
The room was in a fearful mess.
3 . [only before noun] written very frightening SYN terrifying :
a fearful creature
—fearfulness noun [uncountable]
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THESAURUS
▪ frightened feeling worried because you might get hurt or because something bad might happen:
I was too frightened to say anything.
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Many animals are frightened of fireworks.
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Frightened residents called the police as the gang started throwing bricks.
▪ scared [not before noun] especially spoken frightened. Scared is less formal than frightened and is the usual word to use in everyday English:
I’m scared of dogs.
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Old people are too scared to go out of their homes.
▪ afraid [not before noun] frightened. Afraid sounds more formal than frightened or scared :
Children are often afraid of the dark.
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I was afraid that I might say the wrong thing.
▪ alarmed frightened and worried that something bad might happen:
She was alarmed at the thought of performing in front of an audience.
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Alarmed passengers spotted fuel leaking from the plane.
▪ fearful formal frightened that something bad might happen:
They are fearful of another terrorist attack.
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He was fearful that he might make another mistake.
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a fearful panic