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English Lexicon

Dreadful

/ˈdrɛd.fəl/
adjectiveCEFR B2 (Upper)Top #3400 frequency
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Comprehensive Definitions & Senses

2 senses
As adjective
  1. 1

    Causing or involving great suffering, fear, or unhappiness; extremely bad or serious.

    "We woke up to dreadful news about the storm damage."
  2. 2

    Very disagreeable, unpleasant, or of poor quality.

    "The weather during our entire vacation was simply dreadful."
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Thesaurus & Semantic Spectrum

Antonyms & Contrasting Words (1)

Linguistic Origin & Historical Etymology

Derived from the Old English 'drǣd' meaning fear or dread, combined with the suffix '-ful' denoting full of. It has evolved from representing religious or profound terror in Middle English to a general descriptor for something extremely bad, unpleasant, or of very poor quality.

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