dreadful
causing great dread, fear, or terror; terrible: a dreadful storm.
inspiring awe or reverence.
extremely bad, unpleasant, or ugly: dreadful cooking; a dreadful hat.
Origin of dreadful
1Other words for dreadful
Other words from dreadful
- dread·ful·ness, noun
- quasi-dreadful, adjective
- qua·si-dread·ful·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use dreadful in a sentence
It is the old men, the women, the children, the babies and the physically imperfect who must bear the brunt of dreadfulness.
Private Peat | Harold R. PeatAlong with this well-being came again appreciation of the dreadfulness of her case.
Heart of the Blue Ridge | Waldron BailyThe Death of Halpin Frazer has a touch of almost unbearable dreadfulness.
The Supernatural in Modern English Fiction | Dorothy ScarboroughNeed we remind you again of the dreadfulness of hell—of the certainty that it shall overtake the impenitent sinner?
Henry Martyn Saint and Scholar | George SmithThese witnesses He qualified to see the truth in its vast proportions and feel it in its divine dreadfulness.
Sketches of the Covenanters | J. C. McFeeters
British Dictionary definitions for dreadful
/ (ˈdrɛdfʊl) /
extremely disagreeable, shocking, or bad: what a dreadful play
(intensifier): this is a dreadful waste of time
causing dread; terrifying
archaic inspiring awe
Derived forms of dreadful
- dreadfulness, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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