dreadful

English

Alternative forms

• dreadfull
• dredful (obsolete)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɹɛd.fʊl/

• Audio (US)

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Adjective

dreadful (comparative more dreadful, superlative most dreadful)

1. Full of something causing dread, whether
   1. Genuinely horrific, awful, or alarming; dangerous, risky.
      • 1900 May 17, L[yman] Frank Baum, chapter 23, in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chicago, Ill., New York, N.Y.: Geo[rge] M. Hill Co., →OCLC:

        "...Aunt Em will surely think something dreadful has happened to me, and that will make her put on mourning..."

   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.
      • 1958, T[erence] H[anbury] White, chapter VIII, in The Once and Future King, New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam's Sons, →ISBN, book I (The Sword in the Stone):

        Shame to the slothful and woe to the weak one.
        Death to the dreadful who turn to flee.
        Blood to the tearing, the talon’d, the beaked one.
        Timor Mortis are We.

   2. Timid, easily frightened.
   3. Reverential, full of pious awe.

Adverb

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

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

• See Thesaurus:frightening
• See Thesaurus:bad

Derived terms

• dreadfully
• dreadfulness
• something dreadful

Translations

Noun

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

• penny dreadful

Further reading

• Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.