fear
nounEtymology
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 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. 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”).
Definitions
A strong, unpleasant emotion or feeling caused by actual or perceived danger or threat.
- He was struck by fear on seeing the snake.
- 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.
- 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.
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.
Something one is afraid of
Something one is afraid of; the object of one’s fear.
- Spiders are my greatest fear.
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Terrified veneration or reverence, particularly towards God, gods, or sovereigns.
- The feare of the Lord is the beginning of wisedome.
- That sacred dread of all offence to him, which is called the Fear of God.
A feeling of dread and anxiety when waking after drinking a lot of alcohol, wondering…
A feeling of dread and anxiety when waking after drinking a lot of alcohol, wondering what one did while drunk.
- 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, […]
- 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.
To be afraid of (something or someone)
To be afraid of (something or someone); to consider or expect (something or someone) with alarm.
- I fear the worst will happen.
- I greatly fear my money is not safe.
- 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.
To feel fear.
- Never fear; help is always near.
- Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
To worry about, to feel concern for, to be afraid for [with for].
- She fears for her son’s safety.
To venerate
To venerate; to feel awe towards.
- People who fear God can be found in Christian churches.
To regret.
- I fear I have bad news for you: your husband has died.
To cause fear to
To cause fear to; to frighten.
- Ythrild with deepe disdaine of his proud threat, She shortly thus; Fly they, that need to fly; Wordes fearen babes.
- Tush, tush! fear boys with bugs.
To be anxious or solicitous for.
- Fearst thou thy person? thou shalt haue a guard:
- The sins of the father are to be laid upon the children: therefore, I promise ye, I fear you.
To suspect
To suspect; to doubt.
- Fear you not her courage?
Able
Able; capable; stout; strong; sound.
- hale and fear
A surname.
The neighborhood
- synonymfear
- synonymafraidness
- antonymcourage
- antonymbelittleantonym(s) of “venerate, to feel awe towards”
- antonymcontemnantonym(s) of “venerate, to feel awe towards”
- neighborhave one's heart in one's boots
- neighborintimidation
- neighborone's heart in one's mouth
- neighborone's heart in one's throat
- neighborsinking feeling
- neighborterrorism
- neighborafraid
- neighborcowardly
- neighborshy
- neighboremotion
- neighboraffright
- neighboralarm
Derived
affear, antifear, fear campaign, fearfest, fearful, fear gortha, fearless, fearlike, fearmonger, fear monger, fearnaught, fear of missing out, fearscape, fearsome, fearthought, for fear of, for fear that, geometry of fear, have no fear of ice cold beer, microfear, nightfear, night-fear, night fear, no fear, overfear, put the fear of God into, rub the fear of God into, snake fear, stage fear, strike fear, technofear, unfear, water fear, water-fear, without fear or favour, Allah-fearing, fearable, fearer, fear not, fools rush in where angels fear to tread · +5 more
Vish — recursive loop
A definitional loop anchored at fear. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.
A definitional loop anchored at fear. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.
9 hops · closes at fear
curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA