fear

• (General Australian, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fɪə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /fɪɚ/, /fɪɹ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)

From Middle English feer, fere, fer, from Old English fǣr, ġefǣr (“calamity, sudden danger, peril, sudden attack, terrible sight”), from Proto-Germanic *fērō, *fērą (“danger”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to attempt, try, research, risk”). Cognate with Dutch gevaar (“danger, risk, peril”), German Gefahr (“danger, risk, hazard”), Swedish fara (“danger, risk, peril”), Latin perīculum (“danger, risk, trial”), Albanian frikë (“fear, danger”), Romanian frică. Doublet of peril.

The verb is from Middle English feren, from Old English fǣran (“to frighten, raven”), from the noun. Cognate with the archaic Dutch verb varen (“to fear; to cause fear”).

fear (countable and uncountable, plural fears)

2. (uncountable) A strong, unpleasant emotion or feeling caused by actual or perceived danger or threat.

   He was struck by fear on seeing the snake.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     I corralled the judge, and we started off across the fields, in no very mild state of fear of that gentleman's wife, whose vigilance was seldom relaxed.

   • 1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider ”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A Munsey Company, , published 1915, →OCLC, chapter III (Accessory After the Fact), page 382, column 1:

     Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 18, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     ‘Then the father has a great fight with his terrible conscience,’ said Munday with granite seriousness. ‘Should he make a row with the police […]? Or should he say nothing about it and condone brutality for fear of appearing in the newspapers?’

3. (countable) A phobia, a sense of fear induced by something or someone.

   Not everybody has the same fears. I have a fear of ants.

   • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes. The clear light of the bright autumn morning had no terrors for youth and health like hers.

4. (uncountable) Terrified veneration or reverence, particularly towards God, gods, or sovereigns.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Psalm CXI:10:

     The feare of the Lord is the beginning of wisedome.

   • 1846, [John Ruskin], Modern Painters , volume II, London: Smith, Elder and Co., , →OCLC, part III (Of Ideas of Beauty), section I (Of the Theoretic Faculty), page 121:

     That sacred dread of all offence to him, which is called the Fear of God.

5. (UK, with definite article, "the fear") A feeling of dread and anxiety when waking after drinking a lot of alcohol, wondering what one did while drunk.

   Synonym: hangxiety

   • 2019, Ruth Kelly, The Little Vineyard in Provence:

     Her feeling of humiliation had intensified as the day had gone on and her hangover had worsened. She now also had 'the fear' to contend with, […]

   • 2020, Mark Ratcliffe, The Step Down: A Very Scottish Crime:

     He had the fear, that feeling of dread that you've done something really embarrassing. The fear was a hundred times worse than the hangover. No, a thousand times worse.

• (an emotion caused by actual or perceived danger; a sense of fear induced by something or someone): See Thesaurus:fear
• (terrified veneration): dread

fear (third-person singular simple present fears, present participle fearing, simple past and past participle feared)

2. (transitive) To be afraid of (something or someone); to consider or expect (something or someone) with alarm.

   I fear the worst will happen.

   • c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     I greatly fear my money is not safe.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Matthew 10:28:

     And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

   • 1892, Walter Besant, chapter II, in The Ivory Gate , New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, , →OCLC:

     At twilight in the summer there is never anybody to fear—man, woman, or cat—in the chambers and at that hour the mice come out. They do not eat parchment or foolscap or red tape, but they eat the luncheon crumbs.

   • 2013 July 19, Mark Tran, “Denied an education by war”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 1:

     One particularly damaging, but often ignored, effect of conflict on education is the proliferation of attacks on schools […] as children, teachers or school buildings become the targets of attacks. Parents fear sending their children to school. Girls are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence.

3. (intransitive) To feel fear.

   Never fear; help is always near.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Luke 12:32:

     Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

5. (intransitive) To worry about, to feel concern for, to be afraid for .

   She fears for her son’s safety.

6. (transitive) To venerate; to feel awe towards.

   People who fear God can be found in Christian churches.

7. (transitive) To regret.

   I fear I have bad news for you: your husband has died.

8. (obsolete, transitive) To cause fear to; to frighten.
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter X, in Le Morte Darthur, book V (in Middle English):

     Thenne the knyghte sayd to syre Gawayn / bynde thy wounde or thy blee chaunge / for thou bybledest al thy hors and thy fayre armes / […] / For who someuer is hurte with this blade he shalle neuer be staunched of bledynge / Thenne ansuerd gawayn hit greueth me but lytyl / thy grete wordes shalle not feare me ne lasse my courage

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 448:

     Ythrild with deepe disdaine of his proud threat,
     She shortly thus; Fly they, that need to fly;
     Wordes fearen babes.

   • c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     Tush, tush! fear boys with bugs.

   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     We must not make a scarecrow of the law,
     Setting it up to fear the birds of prey,
     And let it keep one shape, till custom make it
     Their perch and not their terror.

9. (obsolete, transitive) To be anxious or solicitous for.
   • 1594, Christopher Marlow[e], The Troublesome Raigne and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England: , London: for Henry Bell, , published 1622, →OCLC, (please specify the page):

     Fearst thou thy person? thou shalt haue a guard:

   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     The sins of the father are to be laid upon the children: therefore, I promise ye, I fear you.

10. (obsolete, transitive) To suspect; to doubt.
    • 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies.  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

      Fear you not her courage?

• (feel fear about (something)): be afraid of, be frightened of, be scared of, be terrorised/terrorized
• (venerate; to feel awe towards): be in awe of, revere, venerate

• (antonym(s) of “venerate; to feel awe towards”): belittle, contemn

From Middle English fere, feore, from Old English fēre (“able to go, fit for service”), from Proto-Germanic *fōriz (“passable”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to put across, ferry”). Cognate with Scots fere, feir (“well, active, sound”), Middle High German gevüere (“able, capable, fit, serviceable”), Swedish för (“capable, able, stout”), Icelandic færr (“able”). Related to fare.

fear (comparative more fear, superlative most fear)

1. (dialectal) Able; capable; stout; strong; sound.

   hale and fear

• feer

• FERA, Fera, Rafe, fare, reaf

• IPA^(key): /fʲaɾˠ/^[1][2][3]
• (Cois Fharraige) IPA^(key): /fʲæɾˠ/^[4]

From Old Irish fer,^[5] from Proto-Celtic *wiros, from Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós.

Cognate with Welsh gŵr, Breton gour, Cornish gour, Gaulish viros, Latin vir, Sanskrit वीर (vīra), Lithuanian výras, Avestan 𐬬𐬍𐬭𐬀 (vīra), and Old English wer.

fear m (genitive singular fir, nominative plural fir)

1. man (adult male)

   Tá an fear ag ól uisce.

   The man is drinking water.

   Sláinte chuig na fir agus go marfuire na mná go deo!

   Health to the men and may the women live forever!

2. husband, male spouse

From Middle Irish feraid, from Old Irish feraid.^[6]

fear (present analytic fearann, future analytic fearfaidh, verbal noun fearadh, past participle feartha) (transitive)

1. to shed (a liquid)
2. to excrete

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “fear”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “fear”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• “fear”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013-2024

fear (plural fears)

1. fear

fear (third-person singular simple present fears, present participle fearin, simple past feart, past participle feart)

1. to fear
2. to frighten, scare

Inherited from Old Irish fer, from Proto-Celtic *wiros, from Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós.

• IPA^(key): /fɛɾ/

fear m (genitive singular fir, plural fir)

1. man
2. husband, male spouse

fear (genitive fir)

1. somebody, something, one

• Used when referring to a singular masculine subject.
• For feminine subjects tè is used. Alternatively, neach can be used for either gender.
• In the plural feadhainn is used for both genders.

• feareigin
• fear mu seach

• bean

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 fer”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

From Old Frisian fethere, from Proto-West Germanic *feþru, from Proto-Germanic *feþrō, from Proto-Indo-European *péth₂r̥.

Cognate with English feather, Greek φτερό (fteró, “wing, feather”), Latin penna (“wing, feather”) and Irish éan (“bird”).

fear c (plural fearren, diminutive fearke)

1. feather
2. spring (mechanical device)

• “fear (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011

From Proto-Germanic *farjǭ. Cognate with Dutch veer, English ferry.

fear n (plural fearen)

1. ferry

• “fear (II)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011

From Old Frisian *farn, from Proto-West Germanic *farn.

fear c (plural fearen)

1. fern

• “fear (III)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011

From Old Frisian *farch, from Proto-West Germanic *farh. Cognate with English farrow.

fear

1. farrow

• “fear (V)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011