Past tense of dread
regular verb
The past tense of dread is dreaded. The past participle is also dreaded.
Forms of dread
| Base form (V1) | dread /dɹɛd/ |
|---|---|
| Past tense (V2) | dreaded /ˈdɹɛ.dɪd/ |
| Past participle (V3) | dreaded /ˈdɹɛ.dɪd/ |
| Present participle | dreading /ˈdɹɛdɪŋ/ |
| Third person singular | dreads /dɹɛdz/ |
Dreaded in a sentence
- Mabel dreaded the upcoming ball and the preliminary corseting it would entail.From the entry corset
- I have got the dreaded flu.From the entry dreaded
- Cold canvassing was the most dreaded exercise for most insurance salesmen.2019, Kelly D. Harrison, Air Force Cop: An Autobiography, page 100. From the entry cold
- After years of resisting Potomac fever, was she experiencing the initial symptoms ofthis dreaded disease?2011, Roger Herst, Rabbi Gabrielle's Defiance. From the entry Potomac fever
- For centuries human activities within the fly belt were limited because of the dreaded trypanosome infections.2007, Ethne Barnes, Diseases and Human Evolution, page 117. From the entry fly belt
Meaning of dread
- verb To fear greatly.
- verb To anticipate with fear.
- verb To be in dread, or great fear.
Questions about the past tense of dread
- What is the past tense of dread?
- The past tense of dread is dreaded.
- What is the past participle of dread?
- The past participle of dread is dreaded.
- Is dread a regular or irregular verb?
- Dread is a regular verb: its past tense adds -ed.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: dread (page history and authors) and the entries of its forms. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws left out forms marked obsolete, archaic, rare or dialectal and added the examples. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “Past tense of dread.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/past-tense/dread. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.