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Definition of fearful adjective from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

fearful

adjective
 
/ˈfɪəfl/
 
/ˈfɪrfl/
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  1. (formal) nervous and afraid
    • fearful (for somebody) Parents are ever fearful for their children.
    • fearful (of something/of doing something) fearful of an attack
    • Fearful of continued unrest, the government imposed a state of emergency.
    • fearful (about something) They were understandably fearful about the future.
    • fearful (that…) She was fearful that she would fail.
    Extra Examples
    • I felt fearful for my life.
    • Fearful of an attack, the government declared a state of emergency.
    • The experience had left her fearful and uncertain.
    Topics Feelingsb2
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs
    • appear
    • be
    • feel
    adverb
    • extremely
    • fairly
    • very
    preposition
    • about
    • for
    • of
    See full entry
  2. [only before noun] (formal) terrible and frightening
  3. (old-fashioned, informal) extremely bad
    • We made a fearful mess of the room.
See fearful in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee fearful in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English
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