(~s, ~ing, ~ed)
1.
If you ~ something which may happen, you feel very anxious and unhappy about it because you think it will be unpleasant or upsetting.
I’m ~ing Christmas this year...
I’d been ~ing that the birth would take a long time.
? look forward to
VERB: V n/-ing, V that
2.
Dread is a feeling of great anxiety and fear about something that may happen.
She thought with ~ of the cold winters to come.
N-UNCOUNT
3.
Dread means terrible and greatly feared. (LITERARY)
...a more effective national policy to combat this ~ disease.
= ~ed
ADJ: usu ADJ n
4.
see also ~ed
5.
If you say that you ~ to think what might happen, you mean that you are anxious about it because it is likely to be very unpleasant.
I ~ to think what will happen in the case of a major emergency...
PHRASE: V inflects, usu PHR wh