dreaded; dreading; dreads
1
a
: to fear greatly
can't swim and dreads the water
a dreaded disease
b
archaic
: to regard with awe
2
: to feel extreme reluctance to meet or face
dread the future
dreaded telling him the truth
dread the thought of speaking in public
: to be apprehensive or fearful
dread not
1
a
: great fear especially in the face of impending evil
were filled with dread by reports of another terrorist attack
b
: extreme uneasiness in the face of a disagreeable prospect (see prospect entry 1 sense 4c)
dread of a social blunder
c
archaic
: awe
2
: one causing fear or awe
the days of wooden ships and wooden homes, when fire was an omnipresent dread—
F. W. Saunders
F. W. Saunders3
a
: dreadlock sense 1
trimming each dread
b
1
: causing great fear or anxiety
dread diseases
2
: inspiring awe
our dread king
Synonyms
Noun
Adjective
Examples of dread in a Sentence
Verb
He can't swim and dreads going in the water.
She dreaded making speeches in front of large audiences.
I dread the day I will have to leave my friends.
I dread the thought of moving next week.
I dread to think about what they might do next.
Noun
She has a dread of failure.
He lives with the constant dread of rejection.
She awaited her punishment with dread.
The news about the war fills me with dread.
They live in constant dread of another attack.
Adjective
every ship on the Spanish Main was terrified of running into the dread pirate
Recent Examples on the WebMax Zahn, ABC News, 12 Apr. 2024
Then came the moment that many Arsenal fans dreaded.
—Ben Church, CNN, 9 Apr. 2024
Maybe mom is dreading facing all those people knowing what her butthead of an ex is saying about her.
—Carolyn Hax, Washington Post, 30 Mar. 2024
Salloum had been dreading the idea of being connected to a machine with tubes and a plug-in base.
—Sydney Page, Washington Post, 18 Mar. 2024
The most likely scenario is the one that many Americans are dreading: This race becomes a repeat of 2020, with little attention paid to third-party candidates by the time Election Day rolls around.
—Kaleigh Rogers, ABC News, 15 Mar. 2024
The series is a fascinating if overlong examination — an episode on temporary QB Matt Cassel feels like a preseason telecast — of the formidable business question: If an organization is questing for eternal excellence, does that mean its employees must always dread coming to the office?
—Stephen Rodrick, Variety, 13 Mar. 2024
Daylight Saving Time kicks in this weekend, as most Americans dread when the time change will spring forward or fall back.
—Jennifer Sangalang, The Courier-Journal, 8 Mar. 2024
Across the Anacostia River, another fragile Washington neighborhood is dreading the ripple effects of that stadium deal — which still needs approval by the Virginia General Assembly and the city of Alexandria.
—Ashraf Khalil, Fortune, 4 Mar. 2024
Laura King, Los Angeles Times, 12 Apr. 2024
Today, scientific explanations for eclipses abound, but a bit of the ancient dread lingers.
—Ross Andersen, The Atlantic, 8 Apr. 2024
These days, as spring winds toward summer, for many of us the carefree season has become a time of dread.
—Lydia Millet, TIME, 2 Apr. 2024
The most profound dread is a wholesale confrontation with Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies, without American backing.
—Bernard Avishai, The New Yorker, 2 Mar. 2024
But, viewed another way, did the Unknown not deliver something of the shadowy dread that has made Dahl’s novels enduring touchstones to generations of readers?
—Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 29 Feb. 2024
In the middle of this existential dread that is the 20s are your characters Jules and Poppy.
—Justine Kenin, NPR, 28 Mar. 2024
There’s a constant sense of individual and species-wide existential dread that’s rarely achieved in cinematic sci-fi.
—Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 27 Mar. 2024
Which shows, perhaps, that this task has taken on an outsize level of dread.
—Justin Scuiletti, Washington Post, 25 Mar. 2024
Teri Figueroa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Jan. 2024
Nor does the dread lady herself offer much mystique beyond sharp teeth and glowing eyes under a cowl.
—Dennis Harvey, Variety, 7 Sep. 2023
For me, one of the most important questions about this year’s likely rematch between the current president and a former one is whether dread or excitement will bring voters to the polls.
—Jennifer Medina, New York Times, 20 Feb. 2024
More pallid still is the dread planet Giedi Prime, where the cinematographer Greig Fraser makes a stark palette shift to black-and-white, as if to emphasize the vampiric quality of the Harkonnens’ fascism.
—Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 27 Feb. 2024
Tommy Love’s production design and Lucy Hawkins’ costuming bring the gritty underworld of New Jersey to life, and add to the film’s sense of neo-noir dread.
—Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 26 Jan. 2024
But others acknowledge that, rather than optimism, there is dread going into 2024 that Biden's campaign cannot dismiss.
—Phillip M. Bailey, USA TODAY, 10 Jan. 2024
Like many great classics of the genre, the film is in no rush to reveal its big bad, building dread as your mind runs wild imagining what fresh hell awaits the crew aboard the Nostromo starship.
—Andrew Walsh, EW.com, 25 Nov. 2023
But these services also elicit worry—if not dread—in parts of the industry.
—Prarthana Prakash, Fortune Europe, 3 Feb. 2024
Verb
Tax season, beloved by few and dreaded by many, comes to a close on Monday.
—Max Zahn, ABC News, 12 Apr. 2024
Then came the moment that many Arsenal fans dreaded.
—Ben Church, CNN, 9 Apr. 2024
Maybe mom is dreading facing all those people knowing what her butthead of an ex is saying about her.
—Carolyn Hax, Washington Post, 30 Mar. 2024
Salloum had been dreading the idea of being connected to a machine with tubes and a plug-in base.
—Sydney Page, Washington Post, 18 Mar. 2024
The most likely scenario is the one that many Americans are dreading: This race becomes a repeat of 2020, with little attention paid to third-party candidates by the time Election Day rolls around.
—Kaleigh Rogers, ABC News, 15 Mar. 2024
The series is a fascinating if overlong examination — an episode on temporary QB Matt Cassel feels like a preseason telecast — of the formidable business question: If an organization is questing for eternal excellence, does that mean its employees must always dread coming to the office?
—Stephen Rodrick, Variety, 13 Mar. 2024
Daylight Saving Time kicks in this weekend, as most Americans dread when the time change will spring forward or fall back.
—Jennifer Sangalang, The Courier-Journal, 8 Mar. 2024
Across the Anacostia River, another fragile Washington neighborhood is dreading the ripple effects of that stadium deal — which still needs approval by the Virginia General Assembly and the city of Alexandria.
—Ashraf Khalil, Fortune, 4 Mar. 2024
Noun
But beneath the bustle runs an undercurrent of dread.
—Laura King, Los Angeles Times, 12 Apr. 2024
Today, scientific explanations for eclipses abound, but a bit of the ancient dread lingers.
—Ross Andersen, The Atlantic, 8 Apr. 2024
These days, as spring winds toward summer, for many of us the carefree season has become a time of dread.
—Lydia Millet, TIME, 2 Apr. 2024
The most profound dread is a wholesale confrontation with Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies, without American backing.
—Bernard Avishai, The New Yorker, 2 Mar. 2024
But, viewed another way, did the Unknown not deliver something of the shadowy dread that has made Dahl’s novels enduring touchstones to generations of readers?
—Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 29 Feb. 2024
In the middle of this existential dread that is the 20s are your characters Jules and Poppy.
—Justine Kenin, NPR, 28 Mar. 2024
There’s a constant sense of individual and species-wide existential dread that’s rarely achieved in cinematic sci-fi.
—Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 27 Mar. 2024
Which shows, perhaps, that this task has taken on an outsize level of dread.
—Justin Scuiletti, Washington Post, 25 Mar. 2024
Adjective
Rotem Cooper, 57, joined the families of three other hostages Monday evening for a panel in front of about 500 people in La Jolla to share their stories of worry and dread and continuing hope.
—Teri Figueroa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Jan. 2024
Nor does the dread lady herself offer much mystique beyond sharp teeth and glowing eyes under a cowl.
—Dennis Harvey, Variety, 7 Sep. 2023
For me, one of the most important questions about this year’s likely rematch between the current president and a former one is whether dread or excitement will bring voters to the polls.
—Jennifer Medina, New York Times, 20 Feb. 2024
More pallid still is the dread planet Giedi Prime, where the cinematographer Greig Fraser makes a stark palette shift to black-and-white, as if to emphasize the vampiric quality of the Harkonnens’ fascism.
—Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 27 Feb. 2024
Tommy Love’s production design and Lucy Hawkins’ costuming bring the gritty underworld of New Jersey to life, and add to the film’s sense of neo-noir dread.
—Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 26 Jan. 2024
But others acknowledge that, rather than optimism, there is dread going into 2024 that Biden's campaign cannot dismiss.
—Phillip M. Bailey, USA TODAY, 10 Jan. 2024
Like many great classics of the genre, the film is in no rush to reveal its big bad, building dread as your mind runs wild imagining what fresh hell awaits the crew aboard the Nostromo starship.
—Andrew Walsh, EW.com, 25 Nov. 2023
But these services also elicit worry—if not dread—in parts of the industry.
—Prarthana Prakash, Fortune Europe, 3 Feb. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'dread.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near dread
Cite this Entry
“Dread.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dread. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
dread
1 of 3 verb1
: to fear greatly
2
: to be very unwilling to meet or face
dread
2 of 3 noun1
a
: great fear especially in the face of approaching harm
b
archaic
: awe entry 1
2
: one causing fear or awe
dread
3 of 3 adjective
: causing great fear or anxiety
a dread disease
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