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dread
8 dictionary results for: dread
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
dread       [dred] Pronunciation Key
–verb (used with object)
1.to fear greatly; be in extreme apprehension of: to dread death.
2.to be reluctant to do, meet, or experience: I dread going to big parties.
3.Archaic. to hold in respectful awe.
–verb (used without object)
4.to be in great fear.
–noun
5.terror or apprehension as to something in the future; great fear.
6.a person or thing dreaded.
7.dreads, Informal. dreadlocks.
8.Informal. a person who wears dreadlocks.
9.Archaic. deep awe or reverence.
–adjective
10.greatly feared; frightful; terrible.
11.held in awe or reverential fear.
[Origin: 1125–75; ME dreden (v.), OE drǣdan, aph. var. of adrǣdan, ondrǣdan; c. OHG intrātan to fear]

—Related forms
dread·a·ble, adjective
dreadness, noun

—Synonyms 5. See fear. 10. dire, dreadful, horrible.
—Antonyms 1. welcome.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
dread       (drěd)  Pronunciation Key 
v.   dread·ed, dread·ing, dreads

v.   tr.
  1. To be in terror of.
  2. To anticipate with alarm, distaste, or reluctance: dreaded the long drive home.
  3. Archaic To hold in awe or reverence.

v.   intr.
To be very afraid.

n.  
  1. Profound fear; terror.
  2. Fearful or distasteful anticipation. See Synonyms at fear.
  3. An object of fear, awe, or reverence.
  4. Archaic Awe; reverence.

adj.  
  1. Causing terror or fear: a dread disease.
  2. Inspiring awe: the dread presence of the headmaster.


[Middle English dreden, short for adreden, from Old English adrǣdan, from ondrǣdan, to advise against, fear : ond-, and-, against; see un-2 + rǣdan, to advise; see ar- in Indo-European roots.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
dread 
c.1175, from O.E. ondrædan "counsel or advise against," also "fear," from on- "against," second element of uncertain origin; prefix wore off after 12c. Dreadlocks first recorded 1960, so called from the dread they presumably aroused in beholders, but Rastafarian dread (1974) also has a sense of "fear of the Lord," expressed in part as alienation from contemporary society.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
dread

adjective
1. causing fear or dread or terror; "the awful war"; "an awful risk"; "dire news"; "a career or vengeance so direful that London was shocked"; "the dread presence of the headmaster"; "polio is no longer the dreaded disease it once was"; "a dreadful storm"; "a fearful howling"; "horrendous explosions shook the city"; "a terrible curse" 

noun
1. fearful expectation or anticipation; "the student looked around the examination room with apprehension" [syn: apprehension] 

verb
1. be afraid or scared of; be frightened of; "I fear the winters in Moscow"; "We should not fear the Communists!" [syn: fear] 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Dread

Dread\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Dreaded; p. pr. & vb. n. Dreading.] [AS. dr?dan, in comp.; akin to OS. dr[=a]dan, OHG. tr[=a]tan, both only in comp.] To fear in a great degree; to regard, or look forward to, with terrific apprehension.

When at length the moment dreaded through so many years came close, the dark cloud passed away from Johnson's mind. --Macaulay.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Dread

Dread\, v. i. To be in dread, or great fear.

Dread not, neither be afraid of them. --Deut. i. 29.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Dread

Dread\, n. 1. Great fear in view of impending evil; fearful apprehension of danger; anticipatory terror.

The secret dread of divine displeasure. --Tillotson.

The dread of something after death. --Shak.

2. Reverential or respectful fear; awe.

The fear of you, and the dread of you, shall be upon every beast of the earth. --Gen. ix. 2.

His scepter shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty, Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings. --Shak.

3. An object of terrified apprehension.

4. A person highly revered. [Obs.] "Una, his dear dread." --Spenser.

5. Fury; dreadfulness. [Obs.] --Spenser.

6. Doubt; as, out of dread. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

Syn: Awe; fear; affright; terror; horror; dismay; apprehension. See Reverence.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Dread

Dread\, a. 1. Exciting great fear or apprehension; causing terror; frightful; dreadful.

A dread eternity! how surely mine. --Young.

2. Inspiring with reverential fear; awful' venerable; as, dread sovereign; dread majesty; dread tribunal.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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