释义 |
fearfulfear‧ful /ˈfɪəfəl $ ˈfɪr-/ ●○○ adjective  - My father had the most fearful temper that shot up in seconds.
- She looked red-eyed and white-faced, slightly fearful and anxious.
- The 1989 Home Office report found that victims of burglary become more fearful of street crime as well.
- The more we try to control nature, the more fearful we are that nature will answer our interference with violence.
- The old ones, fearful and suspicious, jealous even, were attempting to stifle young love.
► frightened feeling worried because you might get hurt or because something bad might happen: · I was too frightened to say anything.· Many animals are frightened of fireworks.· Frightened residents called the police as the gang started throwing bricks. ► scared [not before noun] especially spoken frightened. Scared is less formal than frightened and is the usual word to use in everyday English: · I’m scared of dogs.· Old people are too scared to go out of their homes. ► afraid [not before noun] frightened. Afraid sounds more formal than frightened or scared: · Children are often afraid of the dark.· I was afraid that I might say the wrong thing. ► alarmed frightened and worried that something bad might happen: · She was alarmed at the thought of performing in front of an audience.· Alarmed passengers spotted fuel leaking from the plane. ► fearful formal frightened that something bad might happen: · They are fearful of another terrorist attack.· He was fearful that he might make another mistake.· a fearful panic when you do not want to do something because you are frightened► be afraid/be frightened/be scared to be unwilling to do something because you are frightened about what may happen if you do it. Be scared is more informal than be afraid or be frightened: · I wanted to talk to you about it, but I was frightened.· We are urging our citizens to carry on as normal and not be afraid.· A lot of young children are frightened the first time they are put on a horse's back.be afraid/be frightened/be scared to do something: · Many old people are afraid to go out at night.be afraid/be frightened/be scared of doing something: · She asked me to come with her because she was scared of going there on her own.· He's frightened of flying in case there's a bomb on the plane.be afraid/be frightened/be scared (that): · She was afraid that if she went to the police, her husband would beat her up again. ► be terrified to be unwilling to do something because you are extremely frightened about what may happen if you do it: · When my name was finally called I was terrified.be terrified (that): · I didn't tell my parents I was pregnant. I was terrified that they would throw me out of the house.be terrified of doing something: · They always travel by boat because Jimmy's terrified of flying.be terrified to do something: · She was too terrified to jump from the flames. ► dread to feel worried and frightened about something you have to do: · I have to go to the dentist's tomorrow, and I'm dreading it.dread doing something: · The Wilsons were coming back from holiday today, and I was dreading telling them what had happened while they were away. ► fear written to be frightened about what may happen if you do something: · Many of the gang's victims refused to give information to the police because they feared reprisals.fear (that): · The rescuers dug slowly and carefully, fearing that the wreckage might collapse on top of them. ► be fearful formal to be unwilling to do something because you are worried about the possibility of trouble or danger: be fearful of: · The Energy Department, fearful of public reaction, has cancelled its plans to build four new nuclear reactors.be fearful of doing something: · The threats left her plagued by nightmares, and fearful of making public appearances. be fearful (that): · She gave up smoking when she was pregnant, fearful that it might damage her baby. ► for fear of something if you are unwilling to do something for fear of something bad happening, you are frightened that something bad will happen if you do it: · The workers are unhappy but will not complain for fear of losing their jobs.· I didn't turn on the light, for fear of waking the baby.· Women and the elderly refuse to leave their apartments, for fear of the hooligans who rule the streets. ► have a phobia about to have a strong and unreasonable dislike and fear of something, especially of something that is not frightening for most people: · Carol had a phobia about snakes -- even talking about them made her shiver.· She has a phobia about telephone answering machines and will never leave a message. ADVERB► more· The more we try to control nature, the more fearful we are that nature will answer our interference with violence.· It becomes increasingly fixated on rituals and formalities, and ever more fearful of ultimate results.· The 1989 Home Office report found that victims of burglary become more fearful of street crime as well.· Several men said they are more fearful for their wives, girlfriends and children.· Nowadays few of us have seen anyone who is near death, so we are that much more fearful of the unknown.· There has never been a time when our farmers have been more fearful of the future. ► so· He is so accustomed to taking charge, and so fearful of intrusions, that he feels he can trust only himself. nounfearfearfulness ≠ fearlessnessadjectivefearful ≠ fearlessfearsomeverbfearadverbfearfully ≠ fearlessly 1formal frightened that something bad might happen: a shy and fearful childfearful of People are fearful of rising crime in the area.fearful that Officials are fearful that the demonstrations will cause new violence.► see thesaurus at frightened2British English extremely bad SYN awful, terrible: The room was in a fearful mess.3[only before noun] written very frightening SYN terrifying: a fearful creature—fearfulness noun [uncountable] |