DREADFUL: Synonyms and Related Words. What is Another Word for DREADFUL?

Need another word that means the same as “dreadful”? Find 35 synonyms and 30 related words for “dreadful” in this overview.

The synonyms of “Dreadful” are: awful, dire, direful, dread, dreaded, fearful, fearsome, frightening, horrendous, horrific, terrible, abominable, atrocious, painful, unspeakable, frightful, horrible, grim, unpleasant, disagreeable, nasty, unwell, ill, poorly, bad, indisposed, sick, queasy, nauseous, nauseated, peaky, liverish, green around the gills, outrageous, shocking

Dreadful as an Adjective

Definitions of "Dreadful" as an adjective

According to the Oxford Dictionary of English, “dreadful” as an adjective can have the following definitions:

• Causing or involving great suffering, fear, or unhappiness; extremely bad or serious.
• (of a person) unwell or troubled.
• Exceptionally bad or displeasing.
• Used to emphasize the degree to which something is the case, especially something regarded with sadness or disapproval.
• Causing fear or dread or terror.
• Very unpleasant.
• Extremely disagreeable and unpleasant.
• Extremely disagreeable.

Synonyms of "Dreadful" as an adjective (35 Words)

abominable	Causing moral revulsion. The uprising was suppressed with abominable cruelty.
atrocious	Provoking horror. Murder is an atrocious crime.
awful	Inspiring awe or admiration or wonder. I look awful in a swimsuit.
bad	Feeling physical discomfort or pain tough is occasionally used colloquially for bad. A bad mistake.
dire	Of a very poor quality. A dire emergency.
direful	Extremely bad; dreadful. A career or vengeance so direful that London was shocked.
disagreeable	Unfriendly and bad-tempered. Found the task disagreeable and decided to abandon it.
dread	Causing fear or dread or terror. He was stricken with the dread disease and died.
dreaded	Regarded with great fear or apprehension. The dreaded news came that Joe had been wounded.
fearful	Experiencing or showing fear. He s fearful that his career is over.
fearsome	Causing fear or dread or terror. The cat mewed displaying a fearsome set of teeth.
frightening	Causing fear or dread or terror. A frightening experience.
frightful	Provoking horror- Winston Churchill. Her hair was a frightful mess.
green around the gills	Naive and easily deceived or tricked.
grim	Depressing or worrying to consider. The grim aftermath of the bombing.
horrendous	Extremely unpleasant, horrifying, or terrible. She suffered horrendous injuries.
horrible	Very unpleasant. War is beyond all words horrible.
horrific	Causing fear or dread or terror. Horrific injuries.
ill	Presaging ill fortune P B Shelley. Ill predictions.
indisposed	Averse; unwilling. Clearly indisposed to grant their request.
liverish	Slightly ill, as though having a disordered liver. A liverish red.
nasty	Disgustingly dirty; filled or smeared with offensive matter. A nasty pigsty of a room.
nauseated	Feeling nausea; feeling about to vomit.
nauseous	Causing or able to cause nausea. A rancid odour that made him nauseous.
outrageous	Shockingly bad or excessive. Subjected to outrageous cruelty.
painful	Very bad. The painful process of growing up.
peaky	Having or as if having especially high-pitched spots. Absence of peaky highs and beefed up bass.
poorly	Somewhat ill or prone to illness. She looked poorly.
queasy	Feeling nausea; feeling about to vomit. In the morning he was still pale and queasy.
shocking	Glaringly vivid and graphic; marked by sensationalism. I ve got a shocking cold.
sick	Lacking in intensity or brightness; dim or feeble. Sick to death of flattery.
terrible	Used to emphasize the extent of something unpleasant or bad. A terrible crime.
unpleasant	(of a person or their manner) unfriendly and inconsiderate; rude. The symptoms are extremely unpleasant.
unspeakable	Not able to be expressed in words. A piece of unspeakable abuse.
unwell	Somewhat ill or prone to illness. Is unwell and can t come to work.

Usage Examples of "Dreadful" as an adjective

• This was all a dreadful mistake.
• You're a dreadful flirt.
• The weather was dreadful.
• There's been a dreadful accident.
• Don't go out, the weather is dreadful.
• She looked quite dreadful and she was struggling for breath.
• A dreadful storm.
• Dreadful manners.
• I feel dreadful—I hate myself.

Associations of "Dreadful" (30 Words)

alarming	Worrying or disturbing. Our countryside is disappearing at an alarming rate.
appall	Strike with disgust or revulsion.
appalling	Causing consternation. Is it better to view the appalling or merely hear of it.
atrocious	Horrifyingly wicked. An atrocious automobile accident.
awful	Awfully very. I felt awful for being so angry with him.
beastly	In a beastly manner. Don t be beastly to him.
chilling	Horrifying or frightening. A chilling account of the prisoners fate.
fearful	Causing or likely to cause people to be afraid; horrifying. He s fearful that his career is over.
fearsome	Causing fear or dread or terror. The cat mewed displaying a fearsome set of teeth.
formidable	Inspiring fear- G.H.Johnston. Had a formidable array of compositions to his credit.
frightening	The act of inspiring with fear. A frightening experience.
frightful	Provoking horror. In a frightful hurry.
ghastly	Very objectionable, bad, or unpleasant. One of the most ghastly crimes ever committed.
hellish	Extremely (used for emphasis. An unearthly hellish landscape.
hideous	Grossly offensive to decency or morality; causing horror. The whole hideous story.
horrible	Provoking horror- Winston Churchill. A horrible massacre.
horrific	Causing horror. Horrific injuries.
horrifying	Provoking horror. An alarming even horrifying picture.
horror	A literary or film genre concerned with arousing feelings of horror. A horror film.
indescribable	Too unusual, extreme, or indefinite to be adequately described. Indescribable beauty.
ineffable	Too sacred to be uttered. The ineffable Hebrew name that gentiles write as Jehovah.
inexpressible	(of a feeling) too strong to be described or conveyed in words. A mood of inexpressible longing.
nasty	An unpleasant or harmful person or thing. A nasty vicious looking hatchet.
scared	Fearful; frightened. We re both scared of spiders.
scary	Frightening; causing fear. It was scary the way they bonded with each other.
terrible	Extremely unpleasant or disagreeable. I was sick all night and felt terrible for two days.
terrifying	Causing extreme terror. A terrifying wail.
unspeakable	Defying expression or description. I felt an unspeakable tenderness towards her.
unutterable	Very difficult to pronounce correctly. I felt an unutterable fool.