fearful
Syllables: fear·fulUK/ˈfɪəfəl/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
British/ˈfɪːfəl/
fearful adjective: frightening; causing fear.
Adjective
fearful (comparative more fearful, superlative most fearful)
- Frightening; causing fear.
- Sirs, stop their mouths, let them not speak to me,
But let them hear what fearful words I utter.c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac... - In the later Hebrew midrash Lilith is presented as the woman who knows how to recite the fearful name of God to work calamity; that this little girl cries out the fearful name of the sun god and thereby causes an earthquake would indicate that this girl is linked in the structure of the myth with...1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 184
- Sirs, stop their mouths, let them not speak to me,
- Tending to fear; timid.
- a fearful boy
- Terrible; shockingly bad.
- But every day after dinner, for an hour, we were all together, and then the Favourite and the rest of the Royal Hareem competed who should most beguile the leisure of the Serene Haroun reposing from the cares of State — which were generally, as in most affairs of State, of an arithmetical...1859, Charles Dickens, The Haunted House
- "What an awful infliction for you, Max. You were always such an impulsive, reckless sort of fellow—never quiet. You must miss such a fearful lot."1914, Ernest Bramah, Max Carrados
- Frightened; filled with terror.
- kings ſhall crouch vnto our conquering ſwords,
And hoſtes of Souldiers ſtand amazd at vs,
When with their fearfull tongues they ſhall confeſſe
Theſe are the men that al the world admires,c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC... - Those two great champions did attonce pursew / The fearefull damzell with incessant payns […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
- Synonyms:
- frightened, timid, timorous
- kings ſhall crouch vnto our conquering ſwords,
Adverb
fearful (comparative more fearful, superlative most fearful)
- Extremely; fearfully.
- “He is fearful handsome, as you know,” she said remorsefully, “you cannot imagine, Georgiana, the joy when I first fell in love with him.”2009, Juliette Shapiro, Mr. Darcy's Decision: A Sequel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice
- “It's a fearful strong charm needs dragon's blood,” he said plaintively.2014, Diana Wynne Jones, The Chrestomanci series
fearful meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
fearful in Hindi
- fearful
- कंपित kampit
- fearful, timid, coward
- पोंकना põknā
fearful in Tamil
- அச்சமூட்டும், பயமூட்டும், பயமுறுத்தும், அச்சப்படும், பயப்படும், மிகுந்த மரியாதைக்குரிய
fearful in Urdu
- fearful
- کمپت kampit
- fearful, scary
- تشویشناک tašvīšnāk
fearful in Bengali
- fearful, cowardly, lacking courage
- ভিতু bhitu
More languagesFewer languages
- fearful in Telugu
- భయంకరము bhayaṅkaramu
- fearful in Malayalam
- ഭയജനകമായ, ദാരുണമായ, ഭയങ്കരം, ഭയാനകം
- fearful in Sanskrit
- भीम bhīma
- fearful in Arabic
- خَوَّاف ḵawwāf
- fearful in Vietnamese
- đáng sợ, sợ hãi, sợ sệt, sợ
Examples of fearful in a sentence
- It is important to separate your fearful, false ego-self from your true spiritual self.
- Fearful of falling, he inched along the window ledge.
- Their conversations had become more fearful, even superstitious in the past month.
Synonyms of fearful
Forms of fearful
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more fearful |
| superlative | most fearful |
| alternative form (obsolete) | fearefull |
| alternative form (obsolete) | fearfull |
| Adverb | |
| comparative | more fearful |
| superlative | most fearful |
Origin of fearful
From Middle English ferful, fervol, equivalent to fear + -ful.
Words formed from fearful
Words that rhyme with fearful
Questions about fearful
- What does fearful mean?
- Fearful means frightening; causing fear.
- What is fearful in Hindi?
- Fearful in Hindi is कंपित (kampit), पोंकना (põknā). See Fearful meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is fearful?
- Fearful can be an adjective or an adverb.
- How do you pronounce fearful?
- Fearful is pronounced /ˈfɪəfəl/ (UK).
Words near fearful in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: fearful (page history and authors); कंपित (Hindi) (page history and authors); fearful (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); تشویشناک (Urdu) (page history and authors); ভিতু (Bengali) (page history and authors); భయంకరము (Telugu) (page history and authors); fearful (Malayalam Wiktionary) (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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Cite this entry: “fearful.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fearful. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.