Definitions for dreadful
ˈdrɛd fəldread·ful

Princeton's WordNet(1.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. awful, dire, direful, dread(a), dreaded, dreadful, fearful, fearsome, frightening, horrendous, horrific, terrible(adj)

   causing fear or dread or terror

   "the awful war"; "an awful risk"; "dire news"; "a career or vengeance so direful that London was shocked"; "the dread presence of the headmaster"; "polio is no longer the dreaded disease it once was"; "a dreadful storm"; "a fearful howling"; "horrendous explosions shook the city"; "a terrible curse"

2. atrocious, abominable, awful, dreadful, painful, terrible, unspeakable(adj)

   exceptionally bad or displeasing

   "atrocious taste"; "abominable workmanship"; "an awful voice"; "dreadful manners"; "a painful performance"; "terrible handwriting"; "an unspeakable odor came sweeping into the room"

3. dreadful(adj)

   very unpleasant

Wiktionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. dreadful(Noun)

   A shocking or sensational crime.

   Etymology: From dredful, dredeful, equivalent to .

2. dreadful(Noun)

   A shocking or sensational report of a crime.

   Etymology: From dredful, dredeful, equivalent to .

3. dreadful(Adjective)

   Causing dread; bad.

   Etymology: From dredful, dredeful, equivalent to .

Webster Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Dreadful(adj)

   full of dread or terror; fearful

2. Dreadful(adj)

   inspiring dread; impressing great fear; fearful; terrible; as, a dreadful storm

3. Dreadful(adj)

   inspiring awe or reverence; awful

British National Corpus

1. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'dreadful' in Written Corpus Frequency: #3528

2. Adjectives Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'dreadful' in Adjectives Frequency: #777

How to pronounce dreadful?

1. 

   Alex

   US English

   

   Daniel

   British

   

   Karen

   Australian

   

   Veena

   Indian

How to say dreadful in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of dreadful in Chaldean Numerology is: 6

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of dreadful in Pythagorean Numerology is: 8

Examples of dreadful in a Sentence

1. Polybius:

   There is no witness so dreadful, no accuser so terrible as the conscience that dwells in the heart of every man.

2. Sophocles:

   How dreadful knowledge of the truth can be When there's no help in truth

3. Matthias Rogg:

   It's the point from which everything is measured. It fed the myth that Dresden was the innocent victim of a pointless war and hid the fact that it was a center of Nazism and a significant hub for making armaments, and while the bombing of Dresden was dreadful, it's crucial that without Sept. 1 1939, without Warsaw, Rotterdam, Coventry, London there wouldn't have been Dresden.

4. Ahmed Moosa:

   I have always had doubts about the Saudi family. I always suspected that they are hypocrites and this is now confirmed with what they are doing with this Un-Islamic blockade. These Saudis are from the stock of desert Arabs and are no different from the time of the Messenger of Allâh. Please note I am referring to the leadership known as the Saudi family, not the people of Arabia, which is the proper name of that area mentioned in the Divine Book. Sissi is the same, an enemy of Islam and a hypocrite in the extreme. He is in bed with the yahud and proud of that. He toppled a good man Muhammad Morsi who is a Muslim who I respect. These evil persons do not truly believe in Al-Qur’ân because if they did they would fear the warnings in Allâh’s Book, but because they don’t they do what they want. I quote the following verses from the Divine Book, Al-Qur’ân that I feel are appropriate to these Munafikoon: Surah number 9 ayah 101. “Certain of the desert Arabs round about you are Hypocrites, as well as (desert Arabs) among the Medina folk: they are obstinate in hypocrisy: thou knowest them not: WE (i.e. Allâh) know them: twice shall WE (i.e. Allâh) punish them: and in addition shall they be sent to a grievous penalty.” Surah Munafikoon number 63 ayah 4. “When thou lookest at them, their exteriors please thee; and when they speak thou listenest to their words. They are as (worthless as hollow) pieces of timber propped up, (unable to stand on their own). They think that every cry is against them. They are the enemies; so beware of them. The curse of Allâh be on them! How are they deluded (away from the Truth)!” Surah number 5 verse 32. “On that account: WE (i.e. Allâh) ordained for the Children of Israel that if any one slew a person - unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief In the land - it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people. Then although there came to them Our (i.e. Allâh’s) messengers with Clear Signs (ayat) , yet, even after that, many of them continued to commit excesses In the land.” Surah 6 ayah 151. “Say: Come, I (i.e. Muhammad) will rehearse what Allâh hath (really) prohibited you from: join not anything as equal with him; be good to your parents; kill not your children on a plea of want;- WE (i.e. Allâh) provide sustenance for you and for them;- come not nigh to shameful deeds, whether open or secret; take not life, which Allâh hath made sacred, except by way of justice and law: thus doth HE (i.e. Allâh) command you, that ye may learn wisdom.” These Munafikoon are destined for hell because the Saudis are killing believers in Yemen, Sissi is killing them in Egypt etc. Surah 4 ayah 93. “If a person kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell, to abide therein (for ever): and the wrath and the curse of Allâh are upon him, and a dreadful penalty is prepared for him.”

5. Hendrik Willem van Loon:

   The world is in dreadful need of men who will assume the new leadership – who will have the courage of their own visions and who will recognise clearly that we are only at the beginning of the voyage, and have to learn an entirely new system of seamanship.

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