əˈfrād, in S often -re(ə)d adjective
Etymology: Middle English affraied, afraied, from past participle of affraien to frighten — more at affray
1. : frightened : filled with fear, alarm, or apprehension
running because they were afraid
afraid of the dark
afraid he wouldn't live
the author was afraid that he would lose his prestige
to say bluntly what everyone else is afraid to say — T.S.Eliot
— usually used predicatively
2. : filled with concern, regret, or sorrow over a situation that is or seems to be inescapable
they said they were afraid they couldn't accept the invitation
we have witnessed, I am afraid , only the first phase of a basic conflict — J.B.Conant
— often used to express a polite depreciation of one's own opinion or importance
he told her he was afraid she was quite wrong
3. : filled with annoyed expectation of an unwanted contingency
he seemed afraid , if he were kind, he might be ridiculed — E.A.Peeples
4. : disinclined , reluctant , averse
he's afraid of even a little work
afraid to let his emotions seize upon his speech — V.L.Parrington
not afraid of being declamatory in his fervor — Leslie Rees
Synonyms:
anxious , fearful , afraid , frightened , scared , terrified , and aghast all imply effects of apprehension, fear, or terror upon the one so described and form a roughly ascending order of intensity in the symptoms of such effects. anxious usually suggests a mild fear amounting often to little more than a fretful though usually persistent worry or mild apprehensiveness about possible misfortune
your letter is a great relief to my mind for I still was anxious — O.W.Holmes †1935
anxious for her own safety against dangers threatening from the Mediterranean — A.S.Esmer
Cicero, anxious for his own safety, knowing now that he had made enemies of half the Senate, watching how the balance of factions would go — J.A.Froude
fearful , though often the same as anxious , usually suggests a somewhat stronger and more generalized apprehensiveness stemming often rather from a natural timidity than particular objective causes and implying reactions of fear but fear usually strongly mingled with shyness, uncertainty, and a more general tendency to foreboding and worry
I was fearful lest we should strike the timbered edge of the plain — Francis Birtles
they have been fearful of the unorthodox — S.E.Harris
the average individual is somewhat fearful of high speeds — H.G.Armstrong
it is timorous and fearful of challenge — H.L.Mencken
now that he had these and a dozen other distinctions, he was fearful and insecure — Walter O'Meara
afraid , frightened , and scared are often interchangeable in meaning in common use; afraid , however, is the most general of the three and usually implies a deep-seated though not necessarily outwardly apparent reaction of fear manifest in a strong sense of personal insecurity or danger or in a strong and usually uncontrollable desire to avoid or evade the cause of the reaction
afraid, in her extreme perturbation, of the loneliness of the deserted rooms, and of half-imagined faces peeping from behind every open door in them — Charles Dickens
I was too afraid of her to shudder, too afraid of her to put my fingers to my ears — Joseph Conrad
ten thousand regular soldiers of his wonderful army that everybody in the world was afraid of — Dorothy C. Fisher
frightened implies a fear that usually gives rise to an inner disorder and temporary loss of self-command bordering on and often involving paralysis of muscle and will
the men were frightened by the sudden and unexpected attack on the fort but they defended it valiantly
frightened at the prospect of failure
a child frightened by stories of the boogeyman
frightened so that he broke out in a cold sweat and could hardly stand
scared is the same as frightened in intensity but suggests a more all-inclusive usually childlike reaction as that of running away, trembling, or acting in ways that for adults would be foolish and irrational
run like scared rabbits all the way down the hill to the Charles Street elevated station — Joseph Dever
many of the houses here were still occupied by scared inhabitants, too frightened even for flight — H.G.Wells
terrified and aghast , in this sense, suggest total paralysis of action and will. terrified implies the total reign of terror over the person resulting in stupefaction or in a total incapacity to act or think in any rational way
a child terrified into screaming by the idea of going to the dentist
terrified by the very sound of a plane after several months of steady bombings
the mind, indeed, in its first blank outlook on life is terrified by the demoniac force of nature and the swarming misery of man — G.D.Brown
aghast , a somewhat older use in this sense, puts strong emphasis on an immobility resulting from a terror or more usually a horror or horrified disbelief especially over the fate of someone or something other than oneself
were aghast that in their own midst there were men capable of such barbarism — Ruth Gruber
many who are aghast at the type of world which we are now entering, in which a war could cause obliteration — Vannevar Bush
I stood aghast, unable to move, while the gravediggers uncovered a skeleton, cleaned the bones, laid them alongside the grave — J.A.Lomax
an intelligent woman, remembering her own childhood, must stand aghast at the utter disregard of the children's ordinary human rights — G.B.Shaw