dreadful

1 of 2

adjective

dread·​ful ˈdred-fəl How to pronounce dreadful (audio)
1
a
: inspiring dread (see dread entry 2 sense 1a) : causing great and oppressive fear
a dreadful attack
b
: inspiring awe or reverence
2
: extremely bad, distasteful, unpleasant, or shocking
a dreadful idea
a dreadful performance
dreadful behavior
The food was absolutely dreadful.
3
: extreme
dreadful disorder
dreadfully adverb
dreadfulness noun

dreadful

2 of 2

noun

publishing
: a cheap and sensational (see sensational sense 2) story or periodical

Examples of dreadful in a Sentence

Adjective Her performance was absolutely dreadful. Those children have such dreadful manners.
Recent Examples on the Web
Adjective
Tuesday night was particularly dreadful, missing their first 13 shots and 23 of their first 25, trailing 12-2 and 27-10. Mark Zeigler, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7 Mar. 2024 Any one of these outcomes would be dreadful; any combination of them would be a historic disaster. Ehud Barak, Foreign Affairs, 1 Mar. 2024 Hosting a Hollywood awards show isn’t always a disaster, but Koy’s dreadful performance proved the thanklessness of the job. Shirley Li, The Atlantic, 8 Jan. 2024 Sunday’s win over the Browns was a bit of a silver lining on a dreadful, gloomy and cold winter day. Charlie Goldsmith, The Enquirer, 7 Jan. 2024 And Quinn, for the rare time, is not dreadful annoyance to us as readers. Borys Kit, The Hollywood Reporter, 27 Dec. 2023 Dune: Part 2 continues the dreadful dulling of Millennial film culture. Armond White, National Review, 1 Mar. 2024 While much of the world’s attention is focused on the dreadful conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, there are serious conflicts in the Sahel region of Africa that also deserve our urgent attention. Saleem H. Ali, Forbes, 26 Feb. 2024 Critics universally panned the film for its sloppy editing, clunky plot and sluggish action sequences, resulting in a dreadful 13 percent critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes as of Monday morning. Elahe Izadi, Washington Post, 19 Feb. 2024
Noun
In 1989, there were 892,055 cases of Guinea worm disease, a dreadful and debilitating waterborne parasitic infection historically endemic to Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Tony Morley, Time, 28 Dec. 2022 The comical bumps up against the chaotic, the domestic beats back the dreadful. Ed Stockly, Los Angeles Times, 24 Aug. 2022 The program is filled out with two original stories written by Novotny; including one with a character from a penny dreadful — the pulp fiction of the age. Annie Alleman, Chicago Tribune, 14 Sep. 2022

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'dreadful.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Adjective

see dread entry 1

Noun

see dread entry 1

First Known Use

Adjective

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Noun

circa 1873, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of dreadful was in the 13th century

Dictionary Entries Near dreadful

Cite this Entry

“Dreadful.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dreadful. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

dreadful

adjective
dread·​ful
ˈdred-fəl
1
: causing dread or awe
a dreadful storm
2
: very disagreeable, unpleasant, or shocking
a dreadful cold
dreadful news
dreadfully
-f(ə-)lē
adverb
dreadfulness
-fəl-nəs
noun

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