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# fearful

«fearful» in Mova's school dictionary: **afraid or worried that something bad will happen** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

adjective (fearful, more fearful, most fearful)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Fearful means afraid or worried that something bad will happen. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fearful/#m1)

2) (old-fashioned) Fearful means frightening or terrible. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fearful/#m2)

3) (informal, old) Fearful can mean very great or very bad: «a fearful mess». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fearful/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In stories it describes a character's feeling: «a fearful look». In older books and the Bible it can describe frightening things. In everyday life people say «afraid» or «scared» more often. Phrases: «fearful of», «fearful that».

### examples

- The fearful puppy hid under the bed. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fearful/#x1)
- She was fearful of the dark. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fearful/#x2)
- They were fearful that the bridge would break. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fearful/#x3)
- The children gave a fearful glance at the old house. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fearful/#x4)
- There was a fearful storm that night. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fearful/#x5)
- Don't be fearful — I'm here. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fearful/#x6)
- «Fear not,» said the angel to the fearful shepherds. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fearful/#x7)
- “Things!” he said. “Fearful and horrible, Billy! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fearful/#x8)

### note

Adjective; adverb: fearfully; noun: fearfulness. One l at the end: fearful (the suffix «-ful» has one l). «Fearful of» something. Opposite: fearless, brave. Note the two opposite senses: a fearful person feels fear, but a fearful sight causes fear.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «fearful» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/fearful/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.