What (who) is dread - definition
dread
I. n.
1.
Fear, apprehension, terror.
2.
Awe, veneration.
II. a.
1.
Frightful, terrible, horrible, dreadful.
2.
Venerable, awful.
III. v. a.
Fear greatly.
dread
¦ verb
1. anticipate with great apprehension or fear.
2. archaic regard with great awe.
¦ noun
1. great fear or apprehension.
2. (dreads) informal dreadlocks.
3. a sudden take-off of a flock of birds.
¦ adjective
1. greatly feared; dreadful.
2. archaic regarded with awe.
Derivatives
dreaded adjective
Origin
OE adrdan, ondrdan, of W. Gmc origin.
dread
(dreads, dreading, dreaded)
1.
If you dread something which may happen, you feel very anxious and unhappy about it because you think it will be unpleasant or upsetting.
I'm dreading Christmas this year...
I'd been dreading that the birth would take a long time.
? look forward to
VERB: V n/-ing, V that
2.
Dread is a feeling of great anxiety and fear about something that may happen.
She thought with dread of the cold winters to come.
N-UNCOUNT
3.
Dread means terrible and greatly feared. (LITERARY)
...a more effective national policy to combat this dread disease.
= dreaded
ADJ: usu ADJ n
4.
see also dreaded
5.
If you say that you dread to think what might happen, you mean that you are anxious about it because it is likely to be very unpleasant.
I dread to think what will happen in the case of a major emergency...
PHRASE: V inflects, usu PHR wh
Pronunciation examples for dread
1. and dread.
ted-talks_2801_AnneLamott_2017-320k
2. we dread them.
Anatomy of Muscle Building _ Craig Ramsay _ Talks at Google
3. You can't hear dread.
Laura Dockrill _ Postnatal Mental Health Awareness _ Talks at Google
4. and wonder with absolute dread
ted-talks_2515_SamanthaNutt_2015P-320k
5. Or do they dread them?
Mikkael Sekeres _ When Blood Breaks Down - Life Lessons from Leukemia _ Talks at Google
Examples of use of dread
1. So it‘s the question every press secretary must dread.
2. They do not share their supervisors‘ dread of the word.
3. We could make my generation the last to dread Alzheimer‘s.
4. We all dread going to work, especially in the winter.
5. Parents dread what might happen on the walk to school.