fear

CEFRB1

/ˈfɪə/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    The feeling you have when you expect danger or harm.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A phobia, a sense of fear induced by something or someone in particular.

Examples

  • Her fear of flying is bordering on obsession.

  • I have a great fear of being disdained by those I love and care about.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • [ˈfɪɚ] ~ [ˈfɪɹ̩]
  • /ˈfiə/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. Something one is afraid of; the object of one’s fear.

  2. A strong, unpleasant emotion or feeling caused by actual or perceived danger or threat.

  3. Terrified veneration or reverence, particularly towards God, gods, or sovereigns.

More examples

In context

  • James had a great fear of making mistakes in class and being reprimanded.

  • He was struck by fear on seeing the snake.

  • I have a fear of ants.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

Her intense blank of spiders made her freeze when she saw one on the wall.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

From Middle English feer, fere, fer (“fear”), from Old English fǣr, ġefǣr (“calamity, sudden danger, peril, sudden attack, terrible sight”), from Proto-Germanic *fērō, *fērą (“danger”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to go through, carry forth, try”). Cognate with Dutch gevaar (“danger, risk, peril”), German Gefahr (“danger, hazard, risk”), Danish fare (“danger, hazard, risk”), Faroese and Icelandic fár (“accident, anger, calamity”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk fare (“danger”), Swedish fara (“danger, risk, peril”), Latin perīculum (“danger, risk, trial”), Ancient Greek πεῖρα (peîra, “trial, experiment”), Armenian փորձ (pʻorj, “attempt”). Doublet of peril. The verb is from Middl...