Meaning

4 senses

  1. (transitive)To fear greatly.

    schaudern, grauen

    боя́тьсяbojátʹsja

  2. To anticipate with fear.

    I'm dreading getting the results of the test, as it could decide my whole life.

    gruseln, grausen, eine Gänsehaut bekommen / kriegen

    опаса́тьсяopasátʹsja

  3. (intransitive)To be in dread, or great fear.

    fürchten, Angst haben, ängstigen

  4. (transitive)To style (the hair) into dreadlocks.

More definitions
  • be afraid or scared of; be frightened of

Examples

94 sentences

  1. Why do you think animals dread fire?

    Чому, на твою думку, тварини бояться вогню? — deniko

    deWarum denkst du, dass Tiere Angst vor Feuer haben? — Zaghawa

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  2. Tom dreads going to work tomorrow.

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  3. That was a question Tom dreaded answering.

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  4. She dreaded having to tell him what had happened.

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  5. Tom dreaded having to spend another weekend with Mary.

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Translations

6 languages
Русский
By meaning 2
to fear greatly so./sth.:
to anticipate with fear (that ...):
Deutsch
By meaning 3
to fear greatly so./sth.:
to anticipate with fear (that ...):
to be in great fear (intransitive):

Origin

From Middle English dreden, from Old English drǣdan (“to fear, dread”), aphetic form of on

From Middle English dreden, from Old English drǣdan (“to fear, dread”), aphetic form of ondrǣdan (“to fear, dread”), from Proto-West Germanic *andarādan, equivalent to Old English and- + rǣdan (whence read); corresponding to an aphesis of earlier adread.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

dreads, dreading, dreaded, dreaded
Base formdread · to dread
3rd person singulardreads
Present participledreading
Past simpledreaded
Past participledreaded

regular · Lesson

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theydread
he, she, itdreads

Past simpleLesson

all personsdreaded

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave dreaded
he, she, ithas dreaded

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill dread

Synonyms

1 synonyms
Close in meaning
  • be afraid or scared of; be frightened of:fear

Word family

8 related words
Deriveddreadabledreadinglydreadworthyfordreadindreadundreadingdreadlymisdread

Lessons for this word

3 lessons

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
drawbackC1drawbridgedrawerA2drawingA2dreadfulB2dreadfully
dread — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto