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fear

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Fear is defined as to be afraid of someone or something.

(verb)

An example of fear is for a child to be scared of getting a shot.

The definition of fear is an emotion caused by anxiety or the uneasiness of being afraid of something or someone.

(noun)

An example of fear is the feeling felt in a haunted house.

See fear in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

a feeling of anxiety and agitation caused by the presence or nearness of danger, evil, pain, etc.; timidity; dread; terror; fright; apprehension
respectful dread; awe; reverence
a feeling of uneasiness or apprehension; concern: a fear that it will rain
a cause for fear; possibility; chance: there was no fear of difficulty

Origin: ME fer < OE fær, lit., sudden attack, akin to OHG fāra, ambush, snare: for IE base see peril

transitive verb

Obsolete to fill with fear; frighten
to be afraid of; dread
to feel reverence or awe for
to expect with misgiving; suspect: I fear I am late

intransitive verb

to feel fear; be afraid
to be uneasy, anxious, or doubtful

cape on an island off the SE coast of N.C.

See fear in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun

a. A feeling of agitation and anxiety caused by the presence or imminence of danger.
b. A state or condition marked by this feeling: living in fear.
A feeling of disquiet or apprehension: a fear of looking foolish.
Extreme reverence or awe, as toward a supreme power.
A reason for dread or apprehension: Being alone is my greatest fear.

verb feared, fear·ing, fears

verb, transitive

To be afraid or frightened of.
To be uneasy or apprehensive about: feared the test results.
To be in awe of; revere.
To consider probable; expect: I fear you are wrong. I fear I have bad news for you.
Archaic To feel fear within (oneself).

verb, intransitive

To be afraid.
To be uneasy or apprehensive.

Origin:

Origin: Middle English fer

Origin: , from Old English fǣr, danger, sudden calamity; see per-³ in Indo-European roots

Related Forms:

fearˈer noun

Word History: Old English fǣr, the ancestor of our word fear, meant “calamity, disaster,” but not the emotion engendered by such an event. This is in line with the meaning of the prehistoric Common Germanic word *fēraz, “danger,” which is the source of words with similar senses in other Germanic languages, such as Old Saxon and Old High German fār, “ambush, danger,” and Old Icelandic fār, “treachery, damage.” Scholars have determined the form and meaning of Germanic *fēraz by working backward from the forms and the meanings of its descendants. The most important cause of the change of meaning in the word fear was probably the existence in Old English of the related verb fǣran, which meant “to terrify, take by surprise.” Fear is first recorded in Middle English with the sense “emotion of fear” in a work composed around 1290.

A promontory on Smith Island off the coast of southeast North Carolina at the mouth of the Cape Fear River.

See fear in Ologies

Fear