feared
UK/fɪəd/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
British/fɪːd/
feared adjective: pertaining to someone or thing that causes great fear in others. Also the simple past and past participle of fear.
Adjective
feared (comparative more feared, superlative most feared)
- Pertaining to someone or thing that causes great fear in others.
- Regarded with fear, respect, or reverence.
- Frightened, afraid.
- Conſcience grows feared: the heart grows hardened: while you delay, the Devil rules and rejoyceth: […]1649, Richard Baxter, “An Exhortation to Those that Have Got Assurance of This Rest, or Title to It, that They Would Do All that Possibly They Can to Help Others to It Also. The Fifth Use.”, in The...
- […] I’m maist feared to speak to him—and it’s an unco thing to hear ane o’ us speak that gate o’ a man—[…]1816, [Walter Scott], chapter X, in The Antiquary. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page...
Also used as
feared is also the simple past and past participle of fear.
Examples of feared in a sentence
- It is feared that climate change could make large parts of the earth uninhabitably hot.
- During the Cold War, both sides feared that the other was preparing to launch a first strike.
- Financial insecurity led to a run on the banks, as customers feared for the security of their savings.
Synonyms of feared
12 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of feared
| comparative | more feared |
|---|---|
| superlative | most feared |
Origin of feared
From Middle English fard, feard, ferd, ferde, fered, equivalent to fear + -ed.
From Middle English ferd, feerd, fered, equivalent to fear + -ed.
Words formed from feared
Words that rhyme with feared
Questions about feared
- What does feared mean?
- Feared means pertaining to someone or thing that causes great fear in others.
- What part of speech is feared?
- Feared is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce feared?
- Feared is pronounced /fɪəd/ (UK).
Words near feared in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: feared (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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-feared.ogg.
Cite this entry: “feared.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/feared. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.