Categories: GeneralSynonyms

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)

abominableCausing moral revulsion.
The uprising was suppressed with abominable cruelty.
atrociousProvoking horror.
Murder is an atrocious crime.
awfulInspiring awe or admiration or wonder.
I look awful in a swimsuit.
badFeeling physical discomfort or pain tough is occasionally used colloquially for bad.
A bad mistake.
direOf a very poor quality.
A dire emergency.
direfulExtremely bad; dreadful.
A career or vengeance so direful that London was shocked.
disagreeableUnfriendly and bad-tempered.
Found the task disagreeable and decided to abandon it.
dreadCausing fear or dread or terror.
He was stricken with the dread disease and died.
dreadedRegarded with great fear or apprehension.
The dreaded news came that Joe had been wounded.
fearfulExperiencing or showing fear.
He s fearful that his career is over.
fearsomeCausing fear or dread or terror.
The cat mewed displaying a fearsome set of teeth.
frighteningCausing fear or dread or terror.
A frightening experience.
frightfulProvoking horror- Winston Churchill.
Her hair was a frightful mess.
green around the gillsNaive and easily deceived or tricked.
grimDepressing or worrying to consider.
The grim aftermath of the bombing.
horrendousExtremely unpleasant, horrifying, or terrible.
She suffered horrendous injuries.
horribleVery unpleasant.
War is beyond all words horrible.
horrificCausing fear or dread or terror.
Horrific injuries.
illPresaging ill fortune P B Shelley.
Ill predictions.
indisposedAverse; unwilling.
Clearly indisposed to grant their request.
liverishSlightly ill, as though having a disordered liver.
A liverish red.
nastyDisgustingly dirty; filled or smeared with offensive matter.
A nasty pigsty of a room.
nauseatedFeeling nausea; feeling about to vomit.
nauseousCausing or able to cause nausea.
A rancid odour that made him nauseous.
outrageousShockingly bad or excessive.
Subjected to outrageous cruelty.
painfulVery bad.
The painful process of growing up.
peakyHaving or as if having especially high-pitched spots.
Absence of peaky highs and beefed up bass.
poorlySomewhat ill or prone to illness.
She looked poorly.
queasyFeeling nausea; feeling about to vomit.
In the morning he was still pale and queasy.
shockingGlaringly vivid and graphic; marked by sensationalism.
I ve got a shocking cold.
sickLacking in intensity or brightness; dim or feeble.
Sick to death of flattery.
terribleUsed 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.
unspeakableNot able to be expressed in words.
A piece of unspeakable abuse.
unwellSomewhat 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)

alarmingWorrying or disturbing.
Our countryside is disappearing at an alarming rate.
appallStrike with disgust or revulsion.
appallingCausing consternation.
Is it better to view the appalling or merely hear of it.
atrociousHorrifyingly wicked.
An atrocious automobile accident.
awfulAwfully very.
I felt awful for being so angry with him.
beastlyIn a beastly manner.
Don t be beastly to him.
chillingHorrifying or frightening.
A chilling account of the prisoners fate.
fearfulCausing or likely to cause people to be afraid; horrifying.
He s fearful that his career is over.
fearsomeCausing fear or dread or terror.
The cat mewed displaying a fearsome set of teeth.
formidableInspiring fear- G.H.Johnston.
Had a formidable array of compositions to his credit.
frighteningThe act of inspiring with fear.
A frightening experience.
frightfulProvoking horror.
In a frightful hurry.
ghastlyVery objectionable, bad, or unpleasant.
One of the most ghastly crimes ever committed.
hellishExtremely (used for emphasis.
An unearthly hellish landscape.
hideousGrossly offensive to decency or morality; causing horror.
The whole hideous story.
horribleProvoking horror- Winston Churchill.
A horrible massacre.
horrificCausing horror.
Horrific injuries.
horrifyingProvoking horror.
An alarming even horrifying picture.
horrorA literary or film genre concerned with arousing feelings of horror.
A horror film.
indescribableToo unusual, extreme, or indefinite to be adequately described.
Indescribable beauty.
ineffableToo 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.
nastyAn unpleasant or harmful person or thing.
A nasty vicious looking hatchet.
scaredFearful; frightened.
We re both scared of spiders.
scaryFrightening; causing fear.
It was scary the way they bonded with each other.
terribleExtremely unpleasant or disagreeable.
I was sick all night and felt terrible for two days.
terrifyingCausing extreme terror.
A terrifying wail.
unspeakableDefying expression or description.
I felt an unspeakable tenderness towards her.
unutterableVery difficult to pronounce correctly.
I felt an unutterable fool.
Alexei

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