1
as in terrifying
causing fear
a dreadful hurricane
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in awful
causing intense displeasure, disgust, or resentment
a dreadful performance of a beautiful piece of music
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3
as in horrific
extremely disturbing or repellent
dreadful news of a crime wave in the neighborhood
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4
as in intense
extreme in degree, power, or effect
the dreadful heat of the desert
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5
as in sheer
having no exceptions or restrictions
made a dreadful mess of his first marriage
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of dreadful
The stakes were high — glory for the winners and a dreadful season at least ends with a very notable trophy and a Champions League place, ignominy for the losers; a worst season in living memory, no solace, no silver lining, just humiliation.
—
Tim Spiers, New York Times, 22 May 2025
Champions League prestige and money secured By winning the competition, Tottenham qualifies for the continent’s top club competition, the Champions League, next season – despite how dreadful the club’s recent domestic performances have been.
—David Close, CNN Money, 22 May 2025
The upshot is that their fans have instead sat through more than a decade of dreadful baseball, when maybe a committed rebuild early on in the process might have cut that stretch of agony in half or less.
—Jim Alexander, Oc Register, 22 May 2025
Even after replacing Hyde, the Birds have continued their dreadful play, with their chances of making the playoffs having dwindled to less than 1%.
—Paul Bledsoe, Baltimore Sun, 21 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for dreadful
Tim Spiers, New York Times, 22 May 2025
Champions League prestige and money secured By winning the competition, Tottenham qualifies for the continent’s top club competition, the Champions League, next season – despite how dreadful the club’s recent domestic performances have been.
—David Close, CNN Money, 22 May 2025
The upshot is that their fans have instead sat through more than a decade of dreadful baseball, when maybe a committed rebuild early on in the process might have cut that stretch of agony in half or less.
—Jim Alexander, Oc Register, 22 May 2025
Even after replacing Hyde, the Birds have continued their dreadful play, with their chances of making the playoffs having dwindled to less than 1%.
—Paul Bledsoe, Baltimore Sun, 21 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for dreadful
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dreadful
Adjective
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May has been equally terrifying for Ukrainian civilians.—
Ivana Kottasová,
CNN Money,
27 May 2025
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As the mysterious contract killer Vincent, Cruise brings his usual on-screen qualities — strict professionalism, precise physicality, ruthless persistence — but turns them on their head to embody a terrifying, amoral murderer.—
Wesley Stenzel,
EW.com,
24 May 2025
Adjective
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Over the 18 games following a 21-run eruption against the historically awful Colorado Rockies, the Padres ranked last in the majors in OPS and third-to-last in runs per game.—
Dennis Lin,
New York Times,
2 June 2025
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The timing isn’t awful for SDFC, which doesn’t play its next league game until June 14 and expected Lozano to be absent possibly into early July on national-team duty.—
Mark Zeigler,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
31 May 2025
Adjective
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The war has carried a horrific toll for Gazans, with many dead amid the fighting and whole neighborhoods razed to the ground.—
Shane Croucher,
MSNBC Newsweek,
28 May 2025
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Instead of just ending on that horrific moment, the show then cuts to Abby several days earlier.—
Erik Kain,
Forbes.com,
26 May 2025
Adjective
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The auto-revive for solo players on Night Lords is to combat the intense difficulties of those fights where a single wrong move can be death.—
Paul Tassi,
Forbes.com,
31 May 2025
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And, believe it or not, Europe does have air conditioning, which can be quite an intense shift when moving between the outdoors into coach buses or stores.—
Gregory Robinson,
Travel + Leisure,
31 May 2025
Adjective
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The White Lotus star accessorized with sheer lace gloves and bright pink sunglasses.—
Catherine Santino,
People.com,
3 June 2025
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Even so, the sheer variety of different tasks—and the ways those tasks are presented in different parts of the game's massive map—should keep the P-Switch hunt from feeling dull or rote.—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
3 June 2025
Adjective
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There’s no doubt that Lewis, abandoned as a baby by his parents, has done some horrible stuff.—
Tony Maglio,
HollywoodReporter,
26 May 2025
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What happened to Simone as a child is horrible, and in her brain, she is therefore absolved of having anything to do with her father.—
Lauren Coates,
Variety,
24 May 2025
Adjective
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Tech wealth here looks even less appealing than that of the Roy family (the expensively beige décor is even uglier).—
Kyle Chayka,
New Yorker,
4 June 2025
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During the negotiation of USMCA in 2018, the current trade agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada that Trump managed during his first term, conversations between the President and GM occasionally turned ugly.—
Jackie Charniga,
USA Today,
3 June 2025
Adjective
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Larvae of the parasitic fly chew through flesh, transforming small nicks into big, gruesome wounds.—
Sarah Zhang,
The Atlantic,
27 May 2025
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The gruesome recovery comes in the wake of a gruesome February incident, when a body was found inside a suitcase floating in the East River.—
Nicholas Williams,
New York Daily News,
27 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Dreadful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dreadful. Accessed 7 Jun. 2025.
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