[syn: fearful, timorous, trepid]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Fearful \Fear"ful\ (f[=e]r"f[.u]l), a.
1. Full of fear, apprehension, or alarm; afraid; frightened.
[1913 Webster]
Anxious amidst all their success, and fearful amidst
all their power. --Bp.
Warburton.
[1913 Webster]
2. Inclined to fear; easily frightened; without courage;
timid.
[1913 Webster]
What man is there that is fearful and faint-hearted?
--Deut. xx. 8.
[1913 Webster]
3. Indicating, or caused by, fear.
[1913 Webster]
Cold fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh.
--Shak.
[1913 Webster]
4. Inspiring fear or awe; exciting apprehension or terror;
terrible; frightful; dreadful.
[1913 Webster]
This glorious and fearful name, The Lord thy God.
--Deut.
xxviii. 58.
[1913 Webster]
Death is a fearful thing. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
In dreams they fearful precipices tread. --Dryden.
Syn: Apprehensive; afraid; timid; timorous; horrible;
distressing; shocking; frightful; dreadful; awful.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
fearful
adj 1: experiencing or showing fear; "a fearful glance";
"fearful of criticism"
2: causing fear or dread or terror; "the awful war"; "an awful
risk"; "dire news"; "a career or vengeance so direful that
London was shocked"; "the dread presence of the headmaster";
"polio is no longer the dreaded disease it once was"; "a
dreadful storm"; "a fearful howling"; "horrendous explosions
shook the city"; "a terrible curse" [syn: awful, dire,
direful, dread(a), dreaded, dreadful, fearful,
fearsome, frightening, horrendous, horrific,
terrible]
3: lacking courage; ignobly timid and faint-hearted; "cowardly
dogs, ye will not aid me then"- P.B.Shelley [syn: cowardly,
fearful] [ant: brave, courageous]
4: extremely distressing; "fearful slum conditions"; "a
frightful mistake" [syn: fearful, frightful]
5: timid by nature or revealing timidity; "timorous little
mouse"; "in a timorous tone"; "cast fearful glances at the
large dog" [syn: fearful, timorous, trepid]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
163 Moby Thesaurus words for "fearful":
aflutter, afraid, aghast, agitated, alarmed, alarming, all nerves,
all-overish, anxious, anxioused up, appalling, apprehensive,
atrocious, awful, awing, baleful, bashful, bothered, chicken,
chickenhearted, chilling, concerned, coward, cowardly, cowed,
daunted, daunting, deadly, deterrent, deterring, diffident, dire,
direful, discomposed, disconcerting, discouraging, disgusting,
disheartening, dismayed, dismaying, disquieted, disquieting,
disturbed, dreadful, edgy, excitable, fainthearted, fear-inspiring,
fearing, fearsome, foreboding, formidable, frightened, frightening,
frightful, funking, funky, ghastly, goosy, grim, grisly, gruesome,
heinous, henhearted, hesitant, hideous, high-strung, horrendous,
horrible, horrific, horrifying, howling, in a pucker, in a stew,
in fear, intimidated, irritable, jittery, jumpy, lily-livered,
loathsome, lurid, macabre, malign, milk-livered, milksoppish,
milksoppy, misgiving, monstrous, mousy, nauseating, nauseous,
nerves on edge, nervous, nervy, on edge, on tenterhooks,
overanxious, overapprehensive, overawing, overstrung, overtimid,
overtimorous, overwhelming, panic-prone, panic-stricken, panicky,
perturbed, pigeonhearted, pusillanimous, rabbity, redoubtable,
repugnant, repulsive, revolting, rousing, scared, scaring, scary,
shaky, shivery, shocking, shrinking, shy, sinister, sissified,
sissy, skittery, skittish, soft, solicitous, startling, startlish,
strained, sublime, suspenseful, tense, terrible, terrific,
terrified, terrifying, terror-stricken, thumping, timid, timorous,
trembling, tremendous, tremulous, trepidant, trigger-happy,
troubled, uneasy, unmanly, unmanned, unspeakable, unwilling, weak,
weak-kneed, weakhearted, whacking, white-livered, yellow,
zealous