Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Inspiring dread; terrible.
- adjective Extremely unpleasant; distasteful or shocking.
from The Century Dictionary.
- I. Full of dread or fear.
- Full of respect, honor, or veneration.
- Exciting or attended by great dread, fear, or terror; terrible; formidable; direful: as, a dreadful storm; a dreadful invasion.
- Awful; venerable; awe-inspiring.
- Synonyms Fearful, Frightful, etc. (see
awful ); terrific, horrible, horrid, dire, direful, tremendous. - noun That which is fearful or terrible: used only in the phrases penny dreadful, shilling dreadful, to denote a tale of vulgar sensationalism sold at a small price, or a cheap sensational newspaper or periodical.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective obsolete Full of dread or terror; fearful.
- adjective Inspiring dread; impressing great fear; fearful; terrible.
- adjective obsolete Inspiring awe or reverence; awful.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective Causing
dread ;bad . - noun A shocking or sensational
crime . - noun A shocking or sensational
report of a crime.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective very unpleasant
- adjective causing fear or dread or terror
- adjective exceptionally bad or displeasing
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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It would be dreadful, _dreadful_, if Pegler began seeing ghosts, and turning hysterical.
From out the Vasty Deep Marie Belloc Lowndes 1907
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"That I can't stand it, that I can't go on with it, that it is dreadful to me, -- _dreadful! _"
The Lovely Lady Mary Hunter Austin 1901
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"Oh! would this long day, this dreadful, _dreadful_ waiting for -- _what_? ever come to an end?" she asked herself over and over again.
Elsie's Kith and Kin Martha Finley 1868
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Death is, as one of the ancients observes, [Greek: to ton phoberon phoberotaton], _of dreadful things the most dreadful_: an evil, beyond which nothing can be threatened by sublunary power, or feared from human enmity or vengeance.
The Works of Samuel Johnson, Volume 03 The Rambler, Volume II Samuel Johnson 1746
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Cousin Helen, I've had such a dreadful, _dreadful_ time! "
What Katy Did Susan Coolidge 1870
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He watched all his steps, and always spoke to him with an angry countenance; punishing him for what he called his dreadful rebellion against such a clement prince as the Stadtholder.
The Black Tulip Alexandre Dumas p��re 1836
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As I write this, Neil and Christine Hamilton, as if in dreadful warning to him, are appearing on Hole in the Wall.
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That the South lived in dreadful fear (and armed preparedness) of a slave revolt?
Think Progress » Former GOP Congressman J.C. Watts: ‘Social programs’ are the ‘new slavery.’ 2010
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He wrote that Catholic music is in dreadful shape.
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But no less dreadful is the sense that for many years, the state of Israel has been squandering not only the lives of its children but also the miracle it experienced — the great and rare opportunity bestowed upon it by history, the opportunity to create an enlightened, decent, democratic state that would conduct itself according to Jewish and universal values.
Unforgiven 2008
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