Meaning

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

    I fear the worst will happen.

    be afraid or scared of; be frightened of

  2. (intransitive)To feel fear.

    Never fear; help is always near.

    fürchten, Angst haben vor

    боя́тьсяbojátʹsja, страши́тьсяstrašítʹsja, опаса́тьсяopasátʹsja

    боя́тисяbojátysja, ляка́тисяljakátysja, поло́хатисяpolóxatysja

  3. (intransitive)To worry about, to feel concern for, to be afraid for [with for].

    She fears for her son’s safety.

    Angst haben um, fürchten um/für

    be afraid or feel anxious or apprehensive about a possible or probable situation or event

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

    People who fear God can be found in Christian churches.

    fürchten

  5. (transitive)To regret.

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

    but see leider

  6. (obsolete, transitive)To cause fear to; to frighten.

  7. (obsolete, transitive)To be anxious or solicitous for.

  8. (obsolete, transitive)To suspect; to doubt.

Examples

1695 sentences
  1. She laughed to cover her fear.

    Вона засміялася, щоб приховати свій страх.

    deSie lachte, um ihre Angst zu verbergen.

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  2. I fear we may have a problem.

    Боюся, у нас може бути проблема.

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  3. It's not death I fear, but dying.

    Я боюся не смерті, а помирати.

    ruЯ не смерти боюсь, а умирания.

    deNicht den Tod fürchte ich, sondern das Sterben.

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  4. I don't fear them.

    Я їх не боюся.

    ruЯ их не боюсь.

    deIch habe keine Angst vor ihnen.

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  5. What's your biggest fear?

    Чого ти боїшся найбільше?

    ruКакой твой самый большой страх?

    deWovor hast du am meisten Angst?

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Translations

9 languages
Українська
By meaning 1
feel fear about (something):
Русский
By meaning 1
feel fear about (something):
Deutsch
By meaning 3
feel fear about (something):
(used with for) to worry about, to feel concern for, to be afraid for:
to regret:

Origin

From Middle English feer, fere, fer (“fear”), from Old English fǣr, ġefǣr (“calamity, sudd

From Middle English feer, fere, fer (“fear”), 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 go through, carry forth, try”). Cognate with Dutch gevaar (“danger, risk, peril”), German Gefahr (“danger, hazard, risk”), Danish fare (“danger, hazard, risk”), Faroese and Icelandic fár (“accident, anger, calamity”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk fare (“danger”), Swedish fara (“danger, risk, peril”), Latin perīculum (“danger, risk, trial”), Ancient Greek πεῖρα (peîra, “trial, experiment”), Armenian փորձ (pʻorj, “attempt”). Doublet of peril.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

fears, fearing, feared, feared
Base formfear · to fear
3rd person singularfears
Present participlefearing
Past simplefeared
Past participlefeared

regular · Lesson

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theyfear
he, she, itfears

Past simpleLesson

all personsfeared

Present perfectLesson

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

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill fear

Synonyms

10 synonyms
venerate, to feel awe towards:revereC1venerateC1be in awe of
feel fear about (something):terrorizebe afraid ofbe frightened ofbe scared ofbe terrorise
Close in meaning
  • be afraid or scared of; be frightened of:dread
  • regard with feelings of respect and reverence; consider hallowed or exalted or be in awe of:reverencereverevenerate

Antonyms

2 antonyms
venerate, to feel awe towards:belittlecontemn

Word family

6 related words

Collocations

5 patterns
  • trembling with fear
  • fear death
  • nothing to fear
  • no fear
  • fear but

See also

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