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. Deodatta V. Shenai-Khatkhate:

   If you keep on gazing into an empty bottomless darkness, there's a good chance that darkness will gaze back at you at some point. So, stay away from that dreadful Darkness, and always take a high road on the illuminated path that leads to brilliant bright Light and Enlightenment.

2. Matthias Rogg:

   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.

3. William Shakespeare:

   Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorious summer by this sun of York, And all the clouds that loured upon our house In the deep bosom of the ocean buried. Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths, Our bruised arms hung up for monuments, Our stern alarums changed to merry meetings, Our dreadful marches to delightful measures. Grim-visaged war hath smoothed his wrinkled front And now, instead of mounting barbed steeds To fright the souls of fearful adversaries, He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber To the lascivious pleasing of a lute. But I, that am not shaped for sportive tricks, Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass I, that am rudely stamped, and want love's majesty To strut before a wanton ambling nymph I, that am curtailed of this fair proportion, Cheated of feature by dissembling nature, Deformed, unfinished, sent before my time Into this breathing world, scarce half made up, And that so lamely and unfashionable That dogs bark at me as I halt by them,-- Why, I, in this weak piping time of peace, Have no delight to pass away the time, Unless to spy my shadow in the sun.

4. Jane Austen:

   Single women have a dreadful propensity for being poor. Which is one very strong argument in favor of matrimony.

5. Stephen Innes:

   After a dreadful December for risk markets, crude oil continues to catch a positive vibe.

Images & Illustrations of dreadful

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