adjective
- causing or apt to cause fear; frightening: a fearful apparition.
- feeling fear, dread, apprehension, or solicitude: fearful for his life; fearful lest he commit suicide.
- full of awe or reverence: fearful of the Lord.
- showing or caused by fear: fearful behavior.
- extreme in size, intensity, or badness: a fearful head cold; fearful poverty.
adjective
- having fear; afraid
- causing fear; frightening
- informal very unpleasant or annoyinga fearful cold
adj.mid-14c., “causing fear,” from fear + -ful. Meaning “full of fear, timid” (now less common) also is from mid-14c. As a mere emphatic, from 1630s. Related: Fearfully; fearfulness.