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dreadful

[dred-fuhl]

Example Sentences Origin

adjective

causing great dread, fear, or terror; terrible: a dreadful storm.

inspiring awe or reverence.

extremely bad, unpleasant, or ugly: dreadful cooking; a dreadful hat.

noun British.

penny dreadful.

a periodical given to highly sensational matter.

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Dreadful is always a great word to know.

So is bezoar. Does it mean:

a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.

a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc.

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Origin:
1175–1225; Middle English dredful. See dread, -ful

Related forms

dread·ful·ness, noun

qua·si-dread·ful, adjective

qua·si-dread·ful·ly, adverb

Synonyms
1. frightful, dire.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To dreadful

Example Sentences

Alert readers may have noticed something about that chant: it's dreadful.

The post has appeared elsewhere online, so it's not some dreadful secret.

The dreadful floods this year and last showed that untamed and unpredictable rivers can be both resource and threat.

EXPAND

Alert readers may have noticed something about that chant: it's dreadful.

The post has appeared elsewhere online, so it's not some dreadful secret.

The dreadful floods this year and last showed that untamed and unpredictable rivers can be both resource and threat.

The hairs on my neck rose, and with them dreadful imaginings.

Since when people are threatened by so many dreadful viruses that cause fatal disease.

Dry coriander seed doesn't set me off but the fresh leaves are dreadful.

Dreadful names and ghoulish shapes turn dishes suited to all ages into party fare.

We now know that the risks of splitting atoms pale beside the dreadful toll exacted by fossil fuels.

Despite the dreadful economy, however, art fairs dedicated to contemporary art are not giving up.

Commerzbank has become the latest universal bank to produce dreadful results and announce a retrenchment from investment banking.

For some there is no more dreadful an experience than a visit to the gym.

My heart goes out to all of the others with this dreadful health issue.

She invokes her maternal instinct, as she is protecting her baby from the dreadful paparazzi.

In a hot country with dreadful television this is curious.

They were thankfully removed before doing their dreadful damage.

Then and only then can a sensible debate take place on how to rid ourselves of these dreadful menaces.

The sector had delivered the dreadful combination of low returns and high volatility.

To be fair, this would be is a step up from the dreadful way they have been dealing with things up until now.

Byzantium often gets a dreadful press: it is synonymous in many minds with palace intrigues, ending in matricide or mutilation.

But instead they signed up to turn banks with a dreadful balance sheets around, albeit for a tonne of money.

Though there is time for him to catch up, he has made a dreadful start.

And the public finances will be left in a dreadful state.

In short, it is a dreadful mess, with no obvious way out.

Some reports are full of rosy suggestions, and others suggest dreadful things about to be disclosed.

They run the entire gamut from fabulous to dreadful.

Even snares set by poachers for small animals can cause dreadful harm and suffering to other creatures, from lions to elephants.

But one word twenty times repeated, one dreadful word, told me the reason for the.

The vitality must be lowered before this dreadful disease can find an abiding place.

They, unlike the grad students, know how dreadful the market is and how many truly lousy jobs there are in this field.

Instead of finding all kinds of cool new bands, you marvel at the dreadful taste of your co-workers.

The dreadful details of your burning days and nights bring poor comfort to us, who are also going through a heated term.

Also, some political appointees are dreadful to deal with.

Its volcanoes and banks have blown up with dreadful consequences for locals and outsiders alike.

The consequences of their action are too dreadful to contemplate.

As a vegetarian, it would be dreadful trying to live in any of the small towns in my area.

Kathmandu's recently-vacated royal residence, is less remarkable for its faded splendour than for its dreadful modern design.

That's how it always shakes out in arguments with those dreadful libertarians.

What started out as a whimsical, sophisticated furniture style is reduced to dreadful yippie-i-o wallpaper.

Most have dreadful governments or leaders who do virtually nothing to help their poor.

Not in doubt, however, is the dreadful quality of the loans in question.

In some ways, this is a dreadful time to hold an election.

Investors have had a dreadful time in the recent past.

She coached him with his dreadful writing and tried to soothe his irrational rage.

The dreadful damage done to the victims of the abuse was not appreciated, or was ignored.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

dreadful (ˈdrɛdfʊl)

—*adj*
1.	extremely disagreeable, shocking, or bad: what a dreadful play
2.	(intensifier): this is a dreadful waste of time
3.	causing dread; terrifying
4.	archaic inspiring awe

'dreadfulness

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

dreadful

early 13c., "full of dread," from dread + -ful. Meaning "causing dread" is from mid-13c.; weakened sense of "very bad" is from mid-18c. Related: Dreadfully.

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