Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Dreaded |
DreadedAdjective1. 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". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "dreaded" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references) |
Synonyms: DreadedSynonyms: awful (adj), dire (adj), direful (adj), dread(a) (adj), dreadful (adj), fearful (adj), fearsome (adj), frightening (adj), horrendous (adj), horrific (adj), terrible (adj). (additional references) |
Crosswords: Dreaded |
| English words defined with "dreaded": awful ♦ black mamba ♦ Dendroaspis augusticeps, dire, direful, Drad, dread, Dreadable, Dread-bolted, dreadful ♦ fearful, fearsome, frightening ♦ horrendous, horrific ♦ Informidable ♦ storminess ♦ terrible ♦ Ydrad. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "dreaded": AIDX ♦ Black Dog ♦ Creditor ♦ Damocles' Sword ♦ Gooseberries ♦ Hawkubites ♦ safety. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "dreaded": Drad. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | I have dreamed of speaking my heart, I have prayed for it even as I have dreaded it. Was I alive before I laid eyes on thee? (The Scarlet Letter; writing credit: Douglas Day Stewart) All my life I've awaited your coming and dreaded it. (Planet of the Apes; writing credit: Pierre Boulle; Michael Wilson) | |
Movie/TV Titles | ||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
| ||
Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
| ||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | R. norvegicus is known to be a reservoir of bubonic plague (transmitted to man by the bite of a flea or other insect), endemic typhus fever, ratbite fever, and a few other dreaded diseases. Credit: CDC. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
George Washington | The tumultuous populace of large cities are ever to be dreaded. |
Publilius Syrus | The fear of death is more to be dreaded than death itself. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Emma | Austen, Jane | A very gracious invitation was returned, and the evening no longer dreaded by the fair mistress of the mansion. |
A Christmas Carol | Dickens, Charles | Bob held his withered little hand in his, as if he loved the child, and wished to keep him by his side, and dreaded that he might be taken from him. |
Scarlet Letter | Hawthorne, Nathaniel | It was plain enough to discern, that the old fellows dreaded some such discourtesy at my hands. |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | His obstinacy was the talk of the country, and all dreaded the result. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Rocky Mountain spotted fever was first recognized in 1896 in the Snake River Valley of Idaho and was originally called "black measles" because of the characteristic rash. It was a dreaded and frequently fatal disease that affected hundreds of people in this area. By the early 1900s, the recognized geographic distribution of this disease grew to encompass parts of the United States as far north as Washington and Montana and as far south as California, Arizona, and New Mexico. (references) | |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | SAFETY-:CLUTCH:, n. A mechanical device acting automatically to prevent the fall of an elevator, or cage, in case of an accident to the hoisting apparatus. Once I seen a human ruin In an elevator-well, And his members was bestrewin' All the place where he had fell. And I says, apostrophisin' That uncommon woful wreck: "Your position's so surprisin' That I tremble for your neck!" Then that ruin, smilin' sadly And impressive, up and spoke: "Well, I wouldn't tremble badly, For it's been a fortnight broke." Then, for further comprehension Of his attitude, he begs I will focus my attention On his various arms and legs -- How they all are contumacious; Where they each, respective, lie; How one trotter proves ungracious, T'other one an alibi. These particulars is mentioned For to show his dismal state, Which I wasn't first intentioned To specifical relate. None is worser to be dreaded That I ever have heard tell Than the gent's who there was spreaded In that elevator-well. Now this tale is allegoric -- It is figurative all, For the well is metaphoric And the feller didn't fall. I opine it isn't moral For a writer-man to cheat, And despise to wear a laurel As was gotten by deceit. For 'tis Politics intended By the elevator, mind, It will boost a person splendid If his talent is the kind. Col. Bryan had the talent (For the busted man is him) And it shot him up right gallant Till his head begun to swim. Then the rope it broke above him And he painful come to earth Where there's nobody to love him For his detrimented worth. Though he's livin' none would know him, Or at leastwise not as such. Moral of this woful poem: Frequent oil your safety-clutch. Porfer Poog |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
Martin van Buren | 1837-1841 | We have seen time gradually dispel every unfavorable foreboding and our Constitution surmount every adverse circumstance dreaded at the outset as beyond control. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Dreaded" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 52.77% of the time. "Dreaded" is used about 379 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 52.77% | 200 | 21,580 |
| Lexical Verb (past tense) | 34.83% | 132 | 27,743 |
| Lexical Verb (past participle) | 11.87% | 45 | 50,900 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.26% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Noun (common) | 0.26% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 379 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "dreaded": dreaded-value-for-money. | |
Ending with "dreaded": half-dreaded, long-dreaded, much-dreaded. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
town that dreaded sundown | 15 |
dreaded ned | 8 |
dreaded neds | 4 |
discipline dreaded management most task | 3 |
dandylions dreaded | 2 |
dreaded | 2 |
consequence dreaded wheel | 2 |
czar dreaded | 2 |
dreaded software.com | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "dreaded"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||
Chinese | 畏惧 (Dreading). (various references) | ||||||||||
Czech | obávaný (redoubtable). (various references) | ||||||||||
German | gefürchtet (feared, redoubtably). (various references) | ||||||||||
Hungarian | rettegett (dread, dreadful). (various references) | ||||||||||
Korean | 두 워하" (Awed). (various references) | ||||||||||
Pig Latin | eadeddray temut (dread). (various references) | ||||||||||
| Language | Date | Source | Job Chapter 3, Verse 25 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | FoboV gar on efrontisa hlqen moi kai on ededoikein sunhnthsen moi |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Quia timor quem timebam evenit mihi et quod verebar accidit |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | For the drede, that I dradde, ys ful out come to me; and that I shamede of, is falle. |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me. |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | For the thing which I greatly feared hath come upon me, and that which I dreaded hath come to me. |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | For I have a fear and it comes on me, and my heart is greatly troubled. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Job Chapter 3, Verse 25 |
| Albanian | Sepse ajo që më tremb më shumë më bie mbi krye, dhe ajo që më tmerron më ndodh. |
| Cebuano | Kay ang butang nga akong gikahadlokan midangat kanako, Ug ang akong gikalisangan miabut kanako. |
| Chinese | 我 所 恐 懼 的 臨 到 我 身 、 我 所 懼 怕 的 迎 我 而 來 。 |
| Croatian | Obistinjuje se moje strahovanje, snalazi me, evo, èega god se bojah. |
| Danish | Thi hvad jeg gruer for, rammer mig, hvad jeg bæver for, kommer over mig. |
| Dutch | Want ik vreesde een vreze, en zij is mij aangekomen; en wat ik schroomde, is mij overkomen. |
| Finnish | Sillä mitä minä kauhistuin, se minua kohtasi, ja mitä minä pelkäsin, se minulle tapahtui. |
| French | Ce que je crains, c`est ce qui m`arrive; Ce que je redoute, c`est ce qui m`atteint. |
| German | Denn was ich gefürchtet habe ist über mich gekommen, und was ich sorgte, hat mich getroffen. |
| Haitian Creole | Sa m' pè rive m' lan, se li k'ap rive m'. Sa m' pa ta vle wè a, se li ki tonbe sou mwen. |
| Hungarian | Mert a mitõl remegve remegtem, az jöve reám, és a mitõl rettegtem, az esék rajtam. |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Segala yang kucemaskan, menimpa aku, segala yang kutakuti, melanda aku. |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Karena barang yang kutakuti itu sudah berlaku atasku, dan barang yang kukhawatiri itu sudah datang atasku. |
| Maori | No te mea kua tae mai ki ahau te mea whakawehi e wehi nei ahau; ko taku e pawera nei kua pa ki ahau. |
| Norwegian | For alt det fryktelige jeg reddes for, det rammer mig, og det jeg gruer for, det kommer over mig. |
| Portuguese | Porque aquilo que temo me sobrevém, e o que receio me acontece. |
| Rumanian | De ce mq tem, aceea mi se kntkmplq; de ce mi -e fricq, de aceea am parte! |
| Russian | Й'П ХЦБУОПЕ, ЮЕЗП С ХЦБУБМУС, ФП Й ПУФЙЗМП НЕОС; Й ЮЕЗП С 'ПСМУС, ФП Й ТЙЫМП ЛП НОЕ. |
| Spanish | El miedo que presentía me ha sobrevenido; lo que me daba terror me ha acontecido. |
| Swedish | ty det som ingav mig förskräckelse, det drabbar mig nu, och vad jag fruktade för, det kommer över mig. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Misspellings | |
"Dreaded" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: derated, dreadel, dreave, dreened. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "dreaded" (pronounced dre"dud) |
| 5 | -r e" d u d | breaded, shredded, threaded. |
| 4 | -e" d u d | bedded, beheaded, embedded, headed, imbedded, leaded, unleaded, wedded. |
| 3 | -d u d | abided, abounded, acceded, accorded, added, afforded, aided, alluded, amended, appended, applauded, apprehended, ascended, astounded, attended, avoided, awarded, backhanded, banded, barricaded, beaded, bearded, befriended, bended, bladed, blended, blinded, blindfolded, blindsided, blockaded, blooded, boarded, bombarded, bonded, bounded, braided, branded, broadsided, brooded, candid, carded, cascaded, ceded, chided, clouded, coded, coincided, collided, colluded, commanded, commended, compounded, comprehended, conceded, concluded, confided, confounded, contended, corded, corresponded, corroded, crowded, decided, deeded, defended, defrauded, degraded, deluded, demanded, denuded, depended, derided, descended, disbanded, discarded, disregarded, dissuaded, distended, divided, downgraded, downloaded, dumbfounded, eluded, encoded, ended, enshrouded, eroded, evaded, evenhanded, exceeded, excluded, expanded, expended, exploded, expounded, extended, extruded, exuded, faded, fended, feuded, fielded, flooded, folded, forwarded, founded, funded, gilded, glided, goaded, graded, grounded, guarded, guided, handed, hardheaded, heeded, heralded, herded, hoarded, homesteaded, hooded, hounded, impeded, imploded, impounded, included, intended, interceded, intruded, invaded, jaded, kidded, landed, larded, lauded, lightheaded, loaded, lopsided, masterminded, melded, mended, minded, misguided, molded, muddleheaded, needed, nodded, offended, outmoded, overcrowded, overextended, overfunded, overloaded, padded, paraded, persuaded, pervaded, pleaded, plodded, pounded, preceded, precluded, prerecorded, presided, pretended, prided, proceeded, prodded, propounded, provided, raided, railroaded, rebounded, receded, recommended, recorded, redheaded, refunded, regarded, reloaded, remanded, reminded, remolded, reprimanded, rescinded, resided, responded, retarded, rewarded, rounded, safeguarded, sanded, scalded, scolded, seceded, secluded, seconded, seeded, serenaded, shaded, shepherded, shielded, shrouded, sided, skidded, sordid, sounded, spearheaded, speeded, splendid, stampeded, stranded, studded, subdivided, subsided, succeeded, superseded, surrounded, suspended, tended, traded, transcended, trended, unaided, unamended, unattended, unbounded, unbranded, undecided, underfunded, underhanded, undivided, unexploded, unfolded, unfounded, unfunded, unguarded, unheeded, unheralded, unimpeded, unintended, unloaded, unneeded, unrecorded, upbraided, upgraded, voided, wadded, waded, warded, weeded, welded, wielded, winded, wooded, worded, wounded, wrongheaded, yielded. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: readded. | |
| Words within the letters "a-d-d-d-e-e-r" | |
-1 letter: deader, radded, redded. | |
-2 letters: added, adder, dared, dread, dreed, eared, readd, reded. | |
-3 letters: dare, dead, dear, deed, deer, dere, dree, read, redd, rede, reed. | |
-4 letters: add, are, dad, dee, ear, era, ere, rad, red, ree. | |
-5 letters: ad, ae, ar, de, ed, er, re. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-d-d-d-e-e-r" | |
+1 letter: dandered, degraded, laddered. | |
+2 letters: addressed, daundered, defrauded, redheaded, resaddled. | |
+3 letters: daydreamed, degradedly, dehydrated, depredated, dunderhead, hardheaded, readdicted, redemanded, saddlebred, skedaddler, superadded. | |
+4 letters: biodegraded, desiderated, disregarded, dodecahedra, dunderheads, readdressed, rededicated, roundheaded, saddlebreds, skedaddlers, unaddressed, underhanded. | |
+5 letters: breadboarded, dodecahedral, dodecahedron, dunderheaded, hardheadedly, misaddressed. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)44 72 65 61 64 65 64 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
|
| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
|
| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
|
| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
|
Morse Code (1836) (references)-.. .-. . .- -.. . -.. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
|
Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01000100 01110010 01100101 01100001 01100100 01100101 01100100 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)D r e a d e d |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0044 0072 0065 0061 0064 0065 0064 |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
|
Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)38847167707170 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Familiar 8. Quotations: Fiction | 9. Quotations: Non-fiction 10. Quotations: Speeches 11. Usage Frequency 12. Expressions | 13. Expressions: Internet 14. Translations: Modern 15. Bible Trace 16. Derivations | 17. Rhymes 18. Anagrams 19. Orthography 20. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
