Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A very unpleasant or disturbing feeling caused by the presence or imminence of danger.
- noun A state or condition marked by this feeling.
- noun A feeling of disquiet or apprehension.
- noun A reason for dread or apprehension.
- noun Extreme reverence or awe, as toward a deity.
- intransitive verb To be afraid or frightened of.
- intransitive verb To be uneasy or apprehensive about.
- intransitive verb To consider probable; expect.
- intransitive verb To revere or be in awe of (a deity, for example).
- intransitive verb To be afraid.
- intransitive verb To be uneasy or apprehensive.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A painful emotion or passion excited by the expectation of evil or harm, and accompanied by a strong desire to escape it; an active feeling of dread of which fright and terror are the intenser degrees; hence, apprehension or dread in general.
- noun Anxiety; solicitude.
- noun A cause or object of fear.
- noun Formidableness; aptness to cause fear.
- noun Reverence; respect for rightful authority; especially, reverence manifesting itself in obedience.
- noun Synonyms See
alarm . Concern, dread. Veneration, reverence, awe. - noun See
feer . - Able; capable; stout; strong; sound: as, hale and fear (whole and entire, well and sound).
- To frighten; affright; terrify; drive away or keep away by fear.
- To feel a painful apprehension of, as some impending evil; be afraid of; consider or expect with emotions of alarm or solicitude.
- To reverence; have a reverential awe of; venerate.
- To have fear for; have anxiety about; be solicitous for.
- To be frightened; be afraid; be in apprehension of evil; feel anxiety on account of some expected evil.
- To be in anxious uncertainty; doubt.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun obsolete A variant of
fere , a mate, a companion. - intransitive verb To be in apprehension of evil; to be afraid; to feel anxiety on account of some expected evil.
- noun A painful emotion or passion excited by the expectation of evil, or the apprehension of impending danger; apprehension; anxiety; solicitude; alarm; dread.
- noun Apprehension of incurring, or solicitude to avoid, God's wrath; the trembling and awful reverence felt toward the Supreme Being.
- noun Respectful reverence for men of authority or worth.
- noun That which causes, or which is the object of, apprehension or alarm; source or occasion of terror; danger; dreadfulness.
- noun in apprehension lest.
- transitive verb To feel a painful apprehension of; to be afraid of; to consider or expect with emotion of alarm or solicitude.
- transitive verb To have a reverential awe of; to be solicitous to avoid the displeasure of.
- transitive verb rare To be anxious or solicitous for; now replaced by
fear for . - transitive verb obsolete To suspect; to doubt.
- transitive verb obsolete To affright; to terrify; to drive away or prevent approach of by fear.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective dialectal
Able ;capable ;stout ;strong ;sound . - verb obsolete, transitive To cause fear to; to
frighten . - verb transitive To feel fear about (something).
- verb transitive To venerate; to feel awe towards.
- verb transitive Regret
- noun uncountable A strong, uncontrollable, unpleasant
emotion caused by actual or perceived danger or threat. - noun countable A
phobia , a sense of fear induced by something or someone. - noun uncountable Extreme
veneration orawe , as toward a supreme being or deity.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb be sorry; used to introduce an unpleasant statement
- verb be uneasy or apprehensive about
- noun an emotion experienced in anticipation of some specific pain or danger (usually accompanied by a desire to flee or fight)
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Shall it be of that famous Saplana who runneth away to put himself in hiding; -- for fear -- _verily for fear_ -- the Commander of Famagosta! afraid to die like
The Royal Pawn of Venice A Romance of Cyprus Lawrence Turnbull
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Where one protasis is followed by another opposed in meaning, but affirmative in form, the second is introduced by sīn; as, -- hunc mihi timōrem ēripe; sī vērus est, nē opprimar, sīn falsus, ut timēre dēsinam, _relieve me of this fear; if it is well founded, that I may not be destroyed; but if it is groundless, that I may cease to fear_.
New Latin Grammar Charles E. Bennett
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I remember that I broke forth with words like theseI do not fear, my soul does not fear; and at the same time I found the strength to rise.
The Haunted and the Haunters: Or the House and the Brain 1921
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He had only to dare; and pain and poverty and fear -- above all else _fear_ -- would end forever! ...
The Flaming Jewel 1899
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He had only to dare; and pain and poverty and fear -- above all else _fear_ -- would end forever! ...
The Flaming Jewel 1899
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In the fourth place, the feeling and principle of fear ought to enter into the experience of both youth and manhood, _because it relieves from all other fear_.
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I never in all my life had so little fear of man: I had _no fear_ then.
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I fear, * fear*, that we are fast approaching a time of national revolution.
Theodore's World 2008
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_fear, love, and obey_; and we must have the fulfilment of the first two before we can expect the latter, and it is by our philosophy of creating fear, love and confidence, that we govern to our will every kind of a horse whatever.
The Arabian Art of Taming and Training Wild and Vicious Horses P. R. Kincaid
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And against these on the one side, and the Brother Sodoms on the other, I shall interrupt my story to put this chapter under shelter of that wise remark of the great Dr. Adam Clark, who says "The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, the terror of God confounds the soul;" and that other saying of his: "With the _fear_ of
The Hoosier Schoolmaster A Story of Backwoods Life in Indiana Edward Eggleston 1869
bilby commented on the word fear
"We are turning into a nation of whimpering slaves to fear — fear of war, fear of poverty, fear of random terrorism, fear of getting down-sized or fired because of the plunging economy, fear of getting evicted for bad debts or suddenly getting locked up in a military detention camp on vague charges of being a terrorist sympathizer.�?
— Hunter S. Thompson, 'Extreme Behavior in Aspen', 3 February 2003.
October 30, 2008
sosheshall commented on the word fear
"ignorance is bliss cherish it"-flyleaf
August 18, 2009