dreadful

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English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English dredful, dredfull, dredeful (also dreful), equivalent to dread +‎ -ful.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈdɹɛd.fʊl/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Adjective

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dreadful (comparative more dreadful, superlative most dreadful)

  1. Full of something causing dread, whether
    1. Genuinely horrific, awful, or alarming; dangerous, risky.
    2. (hyperbolic) Unpleasant, awful, very bad (also used as an intensifier).
      • 1682, T. Creech's translation of Lucretius, De Natura Rerum, Book II, 52:
        Here some... Look dreadful gay in their own sparkling blood.
      • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
        This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything.
      • 2011 December 10, Marc Higginson, “Bolton 1-2 Aston Villa”, in BBC Sport:
        After a dreadful performance in the opening 45 minutes, they upped their game after the break...
    3. (obsolete) Awesome, awe-inspiring, causing feelings of reverence.
  2. (obsolete) Full of dread, whether
    1. Scared, afraid, frightened.
    2. Timid, easily frightened.
    3. Reverential, full of pious awe.

Adverb

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dreadful (comparative more dreadful, superlative most dreadful)

  1. (informal) Dreadfully.
    • 2003, David Davis, Of Preachers and Pagans, page 199:
      I'm sorry, Miz Terrigan. I'm dreadful sorry.
    • 2007, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Professor At The Breakfast Table, page 130:
      You don't look so dreadful poor in the face as you did a while back.
    • 2015, Hesba Stretton, Jessica's first prayer: A Christian Fiction of Hesba Stretton:
      "No," she replied, coolly, "and I shall want my dinner dreadful bad afore I get it, I know. You don't often feel dreadful hungry, do you, sir?

Usage notes

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The senses of "dreadful" synonymous with "afraid" similarly use the infinitive or the preposition "of": they were dreadful to build or the boy was dreadful of his majesty. These senses are, however, now obsolete.

When used as an intensifier, "dreadful" is actually a form of the adverb "dreadfully" and thus considered informal or vulgar.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Noun

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dreadful (plural dreadfuls)

  1. A shocker: a report of a crime written in a provokingly lurid style.
  2. A journal or broadsheet printing such reports.
  3. A shocking or sensational crime.

Derived terms

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Further reading

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