Meaning of dread in English

dread

verb [ T ]

/dred/ us

/dred/

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to feel extremely worried or frightened about something that is going to happen or that might happen:

He's dreading the exam - he's sure he's going to fail.

[ + -ing verb ] I'm dreading having to meet his parents.

dread to think

used to say that you do not want to think about something because it is too worrying:

I dread to think what would happen if he was left to cope on his own.

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We are dreading the idea of having my son's friends to stay.
I dread to think what they say about me behind my back.
That night as he dreamed, the warrior was confronted by the enemy he dreaded most.
Although I was absolutely dreading telling Dad, he was actually very understanding when I told him.
What is now happening in the country is what I dreaded most - it is descending into anarchy and civil war.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Afraid

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Causing anxiety and worry

Related word

dreaded

dread

noun

/dred/ us

/dred/

dread noun (FEAR)

[ U ]

a strong feeling of fear or worry:

fill someone with dread The prospect of working full-time fills me with dread.

A feeling of dread crept over me as I approached the door.

Synonym

apprehension

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

fear

fearI have a dreadful fear of heights.
terrorShe fled from the attacker in terror.
dreadThe thought of giving a speech filled me with dread.
alarmI don't want to cause you any alarm, but there's a rattlesnake in the path ahead of you.
frightThe family ran from their home in fright when the earthquake struck.
panicPanic spread through the crowd when someone shouted "Fire!"

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live in dread of something/doing something (also live in dread that)

to be worried that something will happen that you really do not want to happen:

I live in dread of bumping into her in the street.

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His team has the power to instil dread in their opponents.
They had a superstitious dread of this new technology.
I was engulfed by a dread of what might happen.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Anxious and worried

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Fear & phobias

dread noun (HAIR)

dreads [ plural ] informal

short for dreadlocks : a hairstyle in which the hair hangs in long, thick, twisted pieces:

They wore their hair in dreads.

dread

adjective [ before noun ]

formal

/dred/ us

/dred/

causing fear or worry:

The dread spectre of civil war looms over the country.

Every business person fears the dread moment when the laptop fails as they stand up to give a presentation.

humorous

used to refer to something that you do not like or want:

Conversation returned to that dread word, fashion.

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He developed a virus to battle the dread disease polio.
When the dread news finally came, staff began to weep.
At least nobody uttered the dread words: "Do you know who I am?"
It would be waved aside by that dread phrase, "political correctness".

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Describing things that cause fear

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Inspiring dislike

(Definition of dread from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

dread | American Dictionary

dread

noun [ U ]

/dred/

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extreme fear or anxiety about something that is going to happen or might happen:

a dread of drowning

dread

verb [ T ] us

/dred/

We dreaded hearing the results of the blood tests.

(Definition of dread from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of dread

dread

We dreaded poliomyelitis and similar devastating acute, rapidly fatal illnesses.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Mathematics may be dreaded by many, but it also makes creative use of language, producing terms with surprising and fascinating origins.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In a strong, even pace, we skirted the hillside ancient hunters dreaded, headed south, and crossed the two railroad tracks.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

His father had always dreaded leaving family and home, enduring the vagaries of weather and transport together with fatiguing and often unpleasant legal business.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Pierre can accept pointless suffering through having secured an independence of the world and an awareness of absolute safety in which nothing is dreaded.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In particular, there is a wish to respond positively in situations where patients are critically ill, have distressing symptoms, or have a dreaded diagnosis.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The associated psychological tensions make it a prospect to be dreaded and fought against if we can.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The displayer merely acts, perhaps without awareness that others might take the act as example, perhaps knowing and dreading their doing so.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

When he awakes he is re-born, and 'the earth he had dreaded' seemed clearer and beautiful.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Elders complained unceasingly about these trends, and dreaded the possibility of their daughters eloping.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

If reformism is not a disembedded universal, nor is it endowed with the unfettered agency so evidently dreaded by its many critical commentators.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The issue may be crudely defined in (dreaded) binary terms.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Mental health problems were 'no longer dreaded' as they had been before.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Because he's rough, and everyone dreads him.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Anyone who dreaded the emergence of a centralised, almighty 'superstate' should be more than reassured.

From Europarl Parallel Corpus - English

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These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

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