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dread

 - 4 dictionary results

dread

  [dred]
Use dread in a Sentence
–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
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To dread
dread   (drěd)   
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.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

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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Encyclopedia

dread

a fundamental category of existentialism. According to the 19th-century philosopher Soren Kierkegaard, dread, or angst, is a desire for what one fears and is central to his conception of original sin. For the 20th-century German philosopher Martin Heidegger, anxiety is one of the distinctive ways through which Dasein (the historical person) is disclosed as a contingent being, and thus anxiety is that through which fear first becomes possible

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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