Word.ws English Dictionary

dread

/dɹɛd/

dread verb: to fear greatly. Also the clipping of dreadlock.

Verb

dread (third-person singular simple present dreads, present participle dreading, simple past and past participle dreaded)

  1. (transitive) To fear greatly.
  2. To anticipate with fear.
    • I'm dreading getting the results of the test, as it could decide my whole life.
    • Day by day, hole by hole our bearing reins were shortened, and instead of looking forward with pleasure to having my harness put on as I used to do, I began to dread it.[1877], Anna Sewell, “Earlshall”, in Black Beauty: […], London: Jarrold and Sons, […], →OCLC, part II, page 105
  3. (intransitive) To be in dread, or great fear.
    • Dread not, neither be afraid of them.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Deuteronomy 1:29
  4. (transitive) To style (the hair) into dreadlocks.

Noun

dread (countable and uncountable, plural dreads)

  1. Great fear in view of impending evil; fearful apprehension of danger; anticipatory terror.
    • My visit to the doctor is filling me with dread.
    • the secret dread of divine displeasure1671, John Tillotson, “Sermon IV. The Advantages of Religion to Particular Persons. Psalm XIX. 11.”, in The Works of the Most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson, Late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury: […]...
  2. Reverential or respectful fear; awe.
    • The fear of you, and the dread of you, shall be upon every beast of the earth.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 9:2
    • His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, / The attribute to awe and majesty, / Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings.c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
  3. Somebody or something dreaded.
  4. (obsolete) A person highly revered.
    • Una, his dear dread1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
  5. (obsolete) Fury; dreadfulness.
    • The mightie ones, affrayd of every chaunges dread1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
  6. A Rastafarian.

Adjective

dread (comparative dreader, superlative dreadest)

  1. Terrible; greatly feared; dreaded.
    • With cat-like tread / Upon our prey we steal / In silence dread / Our cautious way we feel1879, Arthur Sullivan, The Pirates of Penzance, Gilbert & Sullivan
    • I even remember thinking that no human being would go down that dread path again.1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC
  2. (archaic) Awe-inspiring; held in fearful awe.
    • The acts made in the first Parliament of our most high and dread soveraigne Charles [I], by the grace of God, King of Great Britaine, France, and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c. […] [book title]1633, John Hay, editor, The Acts Made in the First Parliament of our Most High and Dread Soveraigne Charles, by the Grace of God, King of Great Britaine, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith...

Also used as

dread is also the clipping of dreadlock.

dread is also the clipping of dreadnought.

dread meaning in Hindi, Sanskrit, Assamese and Tagalog

dread in Hindi

great fear in view of impending evil
वहशत vahśat, सहम saham

dread in Sanskrit

to fear greatly so./sth.
बिभेति bibheti

dread in Assamese

great fear in view of impending evil
ভয় bhoy

dread in Tagalog

great fear in view of impending evil
alap-ap
More languagesFewer languages
dread in Persian
وحشت vahšat

Examples of dread in a sentence

  • 1980, Donald Fagen; Walter Becker (lyrics and music), "Glamour Profession" in Gaucho, track 3: "Jack with his radar / Stalking the dread moray eel"
  • They shared a common dread that he would begin moaning.1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Soldier in White”, in Catch-22 […], New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 169:

All 40 example sentences with dread

Forms of dread

Verb
third-person singular presentdreads
present participledreading
past participledreaded
pastdreaded
Noun
pluraldreads
Adjective
comparativedreader
superlativedreadest

Past tense of dread: dreaded

Plural of dread: dreads

Origin of dread

From Middle English dreden, from Old English drǣdan (“to fear, dread”), aphetic form of ondrǣdan (“to fear, dread”), from Proto-West Germanic *andarādan, equivalent to Old English and- + rǣdan (whence read); corresponding to an aphesis of earlier adread. Akin to Old Saxon antdrādan, andrādan (“to fear, dread”), Old High German intrātan (“to fear”), Middle High German entrāten (“to fear, dread, frighten”).

From Middle English drede, dred, from the verb (see above). Cognate with Old Frisian drēd, drēde (“fear, dread”).

From Middle English drede, dredde, dradde, ydreddyd (“feared, dreaded, honoured”), past participle of Middle English dreden (“to fear, dread”). See above.

Words formed from dread

Phrases with dread

Words that rhyme with dread

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about dread

What does dread mean?
Dread means to fear greatly.
What is dread in Hindi?
Dread in Hindi is वहशत (vahśat), सहम (saham). See Dread meaning in Hindi.
How do you use dread in a sentence?
1980, Donald Fagen; Walter Becker (lyrics and music), "Glamour Profession" in Gaucho, track 3: "Jack with his radar / Stalking the dread moray eel"
What part of speech is dread?
Dread can be a verb, a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce dread?
Dread is pronounced /dɹɛd/.
What is the past tense of dread?
The past tense of dread is dreaded.

Words near dread in the dictionary

  1. DRCPSCs
  2. DRCS
  3. DRD
  4. DRDRAM
  5. DRE
  6. dread
  7. dread fascination
  8. dread fascinations
  9. dread talk
  10. dreadable
  11. dreaded

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: dread (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-dread.ogg.

Cite this entry: “dread.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dread. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.