dread

causing fear every ship on the Spanish Main was terrified of running into the dread pirate Synonyms alarming, dire, direful, fearful, dreadful, fearsome, forbidding, formidable, frightening, frightful, ghastly, hair-raising, horrendous, horrible, horrifying, intimidating, redoubtable, scary, shocking, spine-chilling, terrible, terrifyingRelated Words daunting, demoralizing, disconcerting, discouraging, dismaying, disquieting, distressing, disturbing, perturbing, startling, threatening, troubling, trying, unnerving; bone-chilling, creepy, eerie (also eery), weird; appalling, atrocious, awful, grisly, gruesome (also grewsome), hideous, horrid, macabre, monstrous, nightmarishNear Antonyms calming, comforting, consoling, inviting, lulling, pacifying, quieting, reassuring, relaxing, soothing, tranquilizing (also tranquillizing); nonintimidating, nonthreatening

1 suspicion or fear of future harm or misfortune the dread felt by people awaiting bad news Synonyms alarm (also alarum), apprehensiveness, apprehension, foreboding, misgivingRelated Words agitation, anxiety, anxiousness, concern, disquiet, disquietude, distress, disturbance, fearfulness, funk, perturbation, solicitude, suspense, unease, uneasiness; scruple, worry; doubt, incertitude, mistrust, suspiciousness, uncertainty, wariness; defeatism, pessimism; foreknowledge, premonition, presage, presentimentNear Antonyms anticipation, excitement, hope, hopefulness; confidence, optimism, sanguinity

2 the emotion experienced in the presence or threat of danger we were filled with dread when we saw the rapids we would be rafting down Synonyms alarm (also alarum), anxiety, fear, fearfulness, fright, horror, panic, scare, terror, trepidationRelated Words phobia; creeps, jitters, nervousness, willies; pang, qualm, twinge; agitation, apprehension, consternation, discomposure, disquiet, funk, perturbation; concern, dismay, worry; cowardice, faintheartedness, timidity, timorousnessNear Antonyms aplomb, assurance, boldness, confidence, self-assurance, self-confidence; bravery, courage, courageousness, daring, dauntlessness, doughtiness, fearlessness, fortitude, gallantry, hardihood, intrepidity, intrepidness, stoutness, valor; audacity, guts, nerve

3 something or someone that causes fear or dread especially without reason speaking in public is a perennial dread for many people Synonyms bête noire, black beast, bugaboo, bugbear, bogey, hobgoblin, ogreRelated Words apparition, ghost, phantasm (also fantasm), phantom, poltergeist, shade, specter (or spectre), spirit, spook, wraith; banshee, bogeyman (also bogyman), demon (or daemon), devil, fiend, ghoul, imp, incubus; fright, horrible, horror, monster, monstrosity, terror; bane, curse, enemy, plague, scourge, torment; abomination, anathema