Search Result for "fear": 
Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (3)

1. an emotion experienced in anticipation of some specific pain or danger (usually accompanied by a desire to flee or fight);
[syn: fear, fearfulness, fright]

2. an anxious feeling;
- Example: "care had aged him"
- Example: "they hushed it up out of fear of public reaction"
[syn: concern, care, fear]

3. a feeling of profound respect for someone or something;
- Example: "the fear of God"
- Example: "the Chinese reverence for the dead"
- Example: "the French treat food with gentle reverence"
- Example: "his respect for the law bordered on veneration"
[syn: fear, reverence, awe, veneration]


VERB (5)

1. be afraid or feel anxious or apprehensive about a possible or probable situation or event;
- Example: "I fear she might get aggressive"

2. be afraid or scared of; be frightened of;
- Example: "I fear the winters in Moscow"
- Example: "We should not fear the Communists!"
[syn: fear, dread]

3. be sorry; used to introduce an unpleasant statement;
- Example: "I fear I won't make it to your wedding party"

4. be uneasy or apprehensive about;
- Example: "I fear the results of the final exams"

5. regard with feelings of respect and reverence; consider hallowed or exalted or be in awe of;
- Example: "Fear God as your father"
- Example: "We venerate genius"
[syn: reverence, fear, revere, venerate]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Fear \Fear\ (f[=e]r), n. A variant of Fere, a mate, a companion. [Obs.] --Spenser. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Fear \Fear\, n. [OE. fer, feer, fere, AS. f[=ae]r a coming suddenly upon, fear, danger; akin to D. vaar, OHG. f[=a]ra danger, G. gefahr, Icel. f[=a]r harm, mischief, plague, and to E. fare, peril. See Fare.] 1. A painful emotion or passion excited by the expectation of evil, or the apprehension of impending danger; apprehension; anxiety; solicitude; alarm; dread. [1913 Webster] Note: The degrees of this passion, beginning with the most moderate, may be thus expressed, -- apprehension, fear, dread, fright, terror. [1913 Webster] Fear is an uneasiness of the mind, upon the thought of future evil likely to befall us. --Locke. [1913 Webster] Where no hope is left, is left no fear. --Milton. [1913 Webster] 2. (Script.) (a) Apprehension of incurring, or solicitude to avoid, God's wrath; the trembling and awful reverence felt toward the Supreme Being. (b) Respectful reverence for men of authority or worth. [1913 Webster] I will put my fear in their hearts. --Jer. xxxii. 40. [1913 Webster] I will teach you the fear of the Lord. --Ps. xxxiv. 11. [1913 Webster] Render therefore to all their dues; tribute to whom tribute is due . . . fear to whom fear. --Rom. xiii. 7. [1913 Webster] 3. That which causes, or which is the object of, apprehension or alarm; source or occasion of terror; danger; dreadfulness. [1913 Webster] There were they in great fear, where no fear was. --Ps. liii. 5. [1913 Webster] The fear of your adventure would counsel you to a more equal enterprise. --Shak. [1913 Webster] For fear, in apprehension lest. "For fear you ne'er see chain nor money more." --Shak. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Fear \Fear\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Feared (f[=e]rd); p. pr. & vb. n. Fearing.] [OE. feren, faeren, to frighten, to be afraid, AS. f[=ae]ran to terrify. See Fear, n.] 1. To feel a painful apprehension of; to be afraid of; to consider or expect with emotion of alarm or solicitude. [1913 Webster] I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. --Ps. xxiii. 4. [1913 Webster] Note: With subordinate clause. I greatly fear my money is not safe. --Shak. I almost fear to quit your hand. --D. Jerrold. [1913 Webster] 2. To have a reverential awe of; to be solicitous to avoid the displeasure of. [1913 Webster] Leave them to God above; him serve and fear. --Milton. [1913 Webster] 3. To be anxious or solicitous for; now replaced by fear for. [R.] [1913 Webster] The sins of the father are to be laid upon the children, therefore . . . I fear you. --Shak. [1913 Webster] 4. To suspect; to doubt. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] Ay what else, fear you not her courage? --Shak. [1913 Webster] 5. To affright; to terrify; to drive away or prevent approach of by fear. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] Fear their people from doing evil. --Robynson (More's Utopia). [1913 Webster] Tush, tush! fear boys with bugs. --Shak. Syn: To apprehend; dread; reverence; venerate. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Fear \Fear\, v. i. To be in apprehension of evil; to be afraid; to feel anxiety on account of some expected evil. [1913 Webster] I exceedingly fear and quake. --Heb. xii. 21. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Fere \Fere\, n. [OE. fere companion, AS. gef[=e]ra, from f[=e]ran to go, travel, faran to travel. [root]78. See Fare.] A mate or companion; -- often used of a wife. [Obs.] [Written also fear and feere.] --Chaucer. [1913 Webster] And Cambel took Cambrina to his fere. --Spenser. [1913 Webster] In fere, together; in company. [Obs.] --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

fear n 1: an emotion experienced in anticipation of some specific pain or danger (usually accompanied by a desire to flee or fight) [syn: fear, fearfulness, fright] [ant: bravery, fearlessness] 2: an anxious feeling; "care had aged him"; "they hushed it up out of fear of public reaction" [syn: concern, care, fear] 3: a feeling of profound respect for someone or something; "the fear of God"; "the Chinese reverence for the dead"; "the French treat food with gentle reverence"; "his respect for the law bordered on veneration" [syn: fear, reverence, awe, veneration] v 1: be afraid or feel anxious or apprehensive about a possible or probable situation or event; "I fear she might get aggressive" 2: be afraid or scared of; be frightened of; "I fear the winters in Moscow"; "We should not fear the Communists!" [syn: fear, dread] 3: be sorry; used to introduce an unpleasant statement; "I fear I won't make it to your wedding party" 4: be uneasy or apprehensive about; "I fear the results of the final exams" 5: regard with feelings of respect and reverence; consider hallowed or exalted or be in awe of; "Fear God as your father"; "We venerate genius" [syn: reverence, fear, revere, venerate]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

171 Moby Thesaurus words for "fear": abulia, agitation, alarm, all-overs, angst, anticipate, anxiety, anxiety hysteria, anxiety neurosis, anxious bench, anxious concern, anxious seat, anxiousness, apprehend, apprehension, apprehensiveness, attack of nerves, awe, back down, balance, be afraid, bete noire, bogey, bogy, buck fever, bugbear, cankerworm of care, care, case of nerves, chicken-liveredness, chickenheartedness, cold feet, cold sweat, concern, concernment, consternation, cowardice, cowardliness, cravenness, debate, deliberate, demur, diffidence, discomposure, dismay, disquiet, disquietude, distress, disturbance, dread, esteem, excessive irritability, expect, eye askance, faintheart, faintheartedness, faintness, falter, fearfulness, feeblemindedness, feebleness, fidgetiness, fidgets, foreboding, forebodingness, forebodings, foresee, frailty, fright, funk, hang back, have qualms, hem and haw, henheartedness, hesitate, hesitation, horror, hover, hum and haw, imagine, infirmity, inquietude, jib, lily-liveredness, malaise, milksopism, milksoppiness, milksoppishness, misgive, misgiving, morbid excitability, nerves, nervosity, nervous stomach, nervous strain, nervous tension, nervousness, nightmare, overanxiety, panic, panickiness, pause, perturbation, phobia, pigeonheartedness, pins and needles, pliability, ponder, presentiment, pucker, pull back, qualms, quiver, respect, retreat, revere, reverence, scare, scruple, second thoughts, shilly-shally, shrink from, shudder at, shy, sit upon thorns, softness, solicitude, spell of nerves, spinelessness, stage fright, stand aghast, state of nerves, stew, stick at, stickle, stop to consider, straddle the fence, strain, strain at, suspect, suspense, tension, terror, think twice about, tic, timidity, timidness, timorousness, trepidation, trepidity, trouble, twitching, unease, uneasiness, unmanfulness, unmanliness, unquietness, upset, vellication, venerate, veneration, vexation, weak will, weak-mindedness, weakheartedness, weakness, withdraw, worry, yellowness, yield, zeal
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

FEAR, crim. law. Dread, consciousness of approaching danger. 2. Fear in the person robbed is one of the ingredients required. to constitute a robbery from the person, and without this the felonious taking of the property is a larceny. It is not necessary that the owner of the property should be in fear of his own person, but fear of violence to the person of his child; 2 East, P. C. 718; or of his property; Id. 731 2 Russ. 72; is sufficient. 2 Russ. 71 to 90. Vide Putting in fear, and Ayl. Pand. tit. 12, p. 106.; Dig. 4, 2, 3 an d 6.