Meaning

5 senses

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

    He was struck by fear on seeing the snake.

    Angst, Furcht, Angscht

    страхstrax, боя́зньbojáznʹ, опасе́ниеopasénije

    страхstrax, боя́зньbojáznʹ, лякljak

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

    Not everybody has the same fears.

    I have a fear of ants.

    Angst, Furcht, Phobie

    страхstrax, боя́зньbojáznʹ, фо́бияfóbija

    фо́біяfóbija

  3. (countable)Something one is afraid of; the object of one’s fear.

    Spiders are my greatest fear.

  4. (uncountable)Terrified veneration or reverence, particularly towards God, gods, or sovereigns.

    Ehrfurcht

    страхstrax

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

More definitions
  • an emotion experienced in anticipation of some specific pain or danger (usually accompanied by a desire to flee or fight)
  • a feeling of profound respect for someone or something
  • an anxious feeling

Examples

1695 sentences

  1. She laughed to cover her fear.

    Вона засміялася, щоб приховати свій страх. — deniko

    deSie lachte, um ihre Angst zu verbergen. — Manfredo

    CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · A2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  2. I fear we may have a problem.

    Боюся, у нас може бути проблема. — deniko

    CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · A2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

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

    Я боюся не смерті, а помирати. — deniko

    ruЯ не смерти боюсь, а умирания. — marafon

    deNicht den Tod fürchte ich, sondern das Sterben. — Pfirsichbaeumchen

    CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · A2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  4. I don't fear them.

    Я їх не боюся. — deniko

    ruЯ их не боюсь. — marafon

    deIch habe keine Angst vor ihnen. — mrtaistoi

    CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · A2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  5. What's your biggest fear?

    Чого ти боїшся найбільше? — deniko

    ruКакой твой самый большой страх? — odexed

    deWovor hast du am meisten Angst? — Pfirsichbaeumchen

    CK · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · A2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

Translations

9 languages
Українська
By meaning 2
uncountable: emotion caused by actual or perceived danger or threat:
a phobia; sense of fear induced by something or someone:
Русский
By meaning 2
uncountable: emotion caused by actual or perceived danger or threat:
a phobia; sense of fear induced by something or someone:
Deutsch
By meaning 3
uncountable: emotion caused by actual or perceived danger or threat:
a phobia; sense of fear induced by something or someone:
extreme veneration or awe:

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

plural: fears
Singularfear
Pluralfears

regular

Synonyms

11 synonyms
dreadB2hangxietyafraidness
Close in meaning

Antonyms

2 antonyms
courageB1
fearlessness

Word family

29 related words
RelatedterrorismB1afraidA1cowardlyB2shyA1intimidationsinking feeling
DerivedfearsomeB2affearantifearfear campaignfearfestfearfulfear gorthafearlessfearlikefearmongerfearnaughtfearscapefearthoughtmicrofearnight fearno fearoverfearsnake fearstage fearstrike feartechnofearunfearwater fear

Lessons for this word

1 lessons

Collocations

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

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
faxB1fazefealtyfearfulfearfullyfearless

Dictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.

fear — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto