fearful

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fearful

/ˈfɪəfəl/ UK
/ˈfɪəfʊl/ UK
/ˈfɪːfəl/ British, Southern, Standard
/ˈfɪjəfəl/ British, Southern, Standard
/ˈfɪːfɵl/ British, Southern, Standard
/ˈfɪjəfɵl/ British, Southern, Standard
/ˈfɪɹfəl/ US
/ˈfɪɹfʊl/ US
[ˈfɪɚfəl] US
[ˈfɪɚfʊl] US
/ˈfɜː(ɹ)fəl/ obsolete
/ˈfɜː(ɹ)fʊl/ obsolete
/ˈfiəfəl/ New Zealand
/ˈfiəfʊl/ New Zealand
/ˈfiɾfəl/ Scotland
/ˈfiɾfʉl/ Scotland
/ˈfɛːfəl/
/ˈfɛːfʊl/

Rhymes with -ɪə(ɹ)fəl, -ɪə(ɹ)fʊl

Where it comes from

From Middle English ferful, fervol, equivalent to fear + -ful.

adjective more fearful · most fearful · fearefull · fearfull

Frightening; causing fear. Sirs, stop their mouths, let them not speak to me, But let them hear what fearful words I utter.
Tending to fear; timid. a fearful boy
dated Terrible; shockingly bad. But every day after dinner, for an hour, we were all together, and then the Favourite and the rest of the Royal Hareem competed who should most beguile the leisure of the Serene Haroun reposing from the cares of State — which were generally, as in most affairs of State, of an arithmetical character,
archaic Frightened; filled with terror. kings ſhall crouch vnto our conquering ſwords, And hoſtes of Souldiers ſtand amazd at vs, When with their fearfull tongues they ſhall confeſſe Theſe are the men that al the world admires,
Similar: frightened, timid, timorous

adverb more fearful · most fearful · fearefull · fearfull

dialectal Extremely; fearfully. “He is fearful handsome, as you know,” she said remorsefully, “you cannot imagine, Georgiana, the joy when I first fell in love with him.”

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: afraid, frightful, frightening, fearsome, alarming, dreaded, dread, direful, terrible, trepid, dreadful, horrific, timorous, horrendous, cringing, timid

Translations

Every language

adj frightening

한국어	무섭다 museopda, 두렵다 duryeopda
Português	amedrontador
Français	effrayant, redoutable
Deutsch	furchtbar
Ελληνικά	φοβερός foverós, τρομακτικός tromaktikós
Русский	стра́шный strášnyj, ужа́сный užásnyj
Tiếng Việt	đáng sợ

adj tending to fear

Español	espantadizo, timorato, tímido
Português	temeroso
Français	craintif, peureux, timoré
Deutsch	ängstlich, furchtsam, scheu
Italiano	timido
Русский	боязливый bojazlivyj
العربية	خَوَّاف ḵawwāf

adj terrible

Français	terrible, affreux
Deutsch	furchtbar
Ελληνικά	φοβερός foverós, τρομερός tromerós
Română	groaznic
Русский	ужа́сный užásnyj

adj frightened, filled with terror

Español	miedoso, temeroso
中文	惵 dié
Português	amedrontado
Français	peureux
Deutsch	verängstigt
Italiano	impaurito, spaventato, pavido
Ελληνικά	φοβισμένος fovisménos
Русский	испу́ганный ispúgannyj, пугли́вый puglívyj
Tiếng Việt	sợ hãi, sợ sệt, sợ

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Cite this

MLA

"fearful." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/fearful. Accessed 5 Nov. 2026.

APA

fearful. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/fearful

Chicago

"fearful." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 5, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/fearful.

BibTeX

@misc{fearful_2026,
  title = {fearful},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/fearful},
  urldate = {2026-11-05}
}