fear

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Anticipation of misfortune

Nouns

1. fear, fearfulness, phobia; timidity, timorousness, diffidence; solicitude, anxiety, worry, care, apprehension; apprehensiveness, misgiving, mistrust, doubt, suspicion, qualm; hesitation, irresolution; fright, alarm, dread, horror, awe, terror, dismay, consternation, panic, scare, stampede.

2. (symptoms of fear) nervousness, restlessness, inquietude, disquietude; flutter, trepidation, fear and trembling, buck fever, jitters, creeps, shivers; goose flesh, bumps, or pimples; butterflies [in the stomach]; perturbation, tremor, quivering, shaking, trembling, palpitation, cold sweat; abject fear (see cowardice); hangup. Informal, funk. Slang, heebie-jeebies.

3. (induced fear) intimidation, terrorism, reign of terror, threat, menace.

4. phobia; acrophobia, agoraphobia, ailurophobia, arachnophobia, claustrophobia, ecophobia, ergophobia, ichthyophobia, pyrophobia, xenophobia, zoophobia, etc.; Anglophobia, Francophobia, Germanophobia, etc.

5. (something scary) bugbear, bugaboo; scarecrow; hobgoblin, demon; nightmare, Gorgon, ogre; bête noire.

6. alarmist, fearmonger, scaremonger; terrorist, bomber, arsonist; bogeyman.

Verbs

1. fear, stand in awe of, be afraid, have qualms, be apprehensive, distrust, doubt; hesitate; funk, cower, crouch; skulk (see cowardice); take fright, take alarm, panic, stampede.

2. (react with fear) start, wince, flinch, cringe, shy, shrink; fly, flee (see avoidance); tremble, shake, jump out of one's skin; shiver [in one's boots or shoes]; shudder, flutter; tremble like a leaf or an aspen leaf, quake, quaver, quail; grow or turn pale; blench, stand aghast, throw up one's hands in horror. Slang, sweat blood or bullets, not be able to say boo to a goose, hit the panic button, shit or pee in one's pants.

3. inspire or excite fear or awe; raise apprehensions; alarm, startle, scare, cry "wolf! ", disquiet, dismay; fright[en]; affright, terrify; scare or frighten out of one's wits, scare the [living] daylights out of, put the fear of God into; awe, strike terror (into), appall, unman, petrify, horrify; make one's flesh creep, make one's hair stand on end, curl one's hair; make one's blood run cold, turn to ice, or freeze, make one's teeth chatter; take away one's breath, make one's heart stand still; make one tremble; haunt; prey or weigh on the mind. Informal, spook, throw a scare into. Slang, scare shitless, scare the shit out of, curl one's hair.

4. (dissuade with fear) put in fear, terrorize, intimidate, cow, daunt, take aback, overawe, deter, discourage; browbeat, bully, boss; threaten (see warning), menace. Slang, bulldoze.

Adjectives

1. fearful, fearing, frightened, in fear, in a fright, afraid, scared, timid, timorous, cowardly (see cowardice); nervous, diffident, fainthearted, tremulous, shaky, panicky, afraid of one's shadow, mousy, apprehensive, irresolute; restless, fidgety, on pins and needles; having one's heart in one's mouth or boots, afraid of one's own shadow; paranoid; careworn, anxious.

2. aghast; alarmed; awestruck, terrified, horrified, horror-, terror-, or panic-stricken; frightened or scared to death, scared stiff, white as a sheet; pale as death, ashes, or a ghost; breathless, in hysterics, paralyzed [with fear]. Informal, yellow. Slang, chicken, scared shitless.

3. inspiring fear, fearsome, alarming; formidable, redoubtable; forbidding, dreadful, fell; dire, direful; shocking, terrible, terrifying, terrific, spine-chilling, alarmist; tremendous; horrid, horrible, horrific; ghastly; awful, awe-inspiring, eerie.

Adverbs — fearfully, in [mortal] fear, in fear for one's life, for fear, for dear life, with fear and trembling, with the tail between the legs, in a cold sweat.

Phrases — a burnt child dreads the fire; once bitten, twice shy.

Quotations — Present fears are less than horrible imaginings (Shakespeare), I will show you fear in a handful of dust (T. S. Eliot), The only thing we have to fear is fear itself (F D. Roosevelt), Fear has many eyes and can see things underground (Cervantes), If we let things terrify us, life will not be worth living (Seneca), Fatigue makes cowards of us all (George S. Patton), Always do what you are afraid to do (Mary Emerson), Be not afraid of shadows (Shakespeare), 'Tis time to fear when tyrants seem to kiss (Shakespeare).

Antonyms, see hope, courage.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

1. [Alarm occasioned by immediate danger]

Syn. dread, fright, terror, horror, panic, alarm, consternation, dismay, awe, scare, abhorrence, revulsion, aversion, tremor, bodily fear, mortal terror, funk*, cold feet*, cold sweat*, chills*; see also sense 2.

Ant. courage*, intrepidity, dash.

2. [General apprehension]

Syn. anxiety, trepidation, dread, timidity, cowardice, misgiving, trembling, uneasiness, fear and trembling, disquietude, perturbation, phobia, bugbear, irresolution, fearfulness, foreboding, despair, agitation, hesitation, nervousness, jumpiness, worry, concern, suspicion, doubt, qualm, presentiment, faintheartedness, timorousness, abject fear, the creeps*; see also sense 1; cowardice , nervousness 1 .

Ant. courage*, bravery, boldness.

• for fear of,

Syn. to avoid, lest, in order to prevent.

Syn.- fear is the general term for the anxiety and agitation felt at the presence of danger; dread refers to the fear or depression felt in anticipating something dangerous or disagreeable [ to live in dread of poverty ] ; fright applies to a sudden, shocking, usually momentary fear [ the mouse gave her a fright] ; alarm implies the fright felt at the sudden realization of danger [ he felt alarm at the sight of the pistol ] ; terror applies to an overwhelming, often paralyzing fear [ the terror of soldiers in combat ] ; panic refers to a frantic, unreasoning fear, often one that spreads quickly and leads to irrational, aimless action [ the cry of ``fire!"" created a panic] v.

1. [To anticipate immediate danger]

Syn. be afraid, be frightened, be alarmed, lose courage, falter, stand in awe of, be scared, stand aghast, live in terror, dare not, have qualms, cower, take fright, quaver, flinch, shrink, quail, quake, cringe, shudder, freeze, turn pale, blanch, start, tremble, shy, lose one's nerve, break out in a sweat*, get cold feet*, chicken out*, wimp out*.

Ant. outface, withstand, dare.

2. [To be apprehensive]

Syn. apprehend, dread, fret; see worry 2 .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus)

I

n.

fright, terror, apprehension, foreboding, dread, alarm, anxiety, angst, panic, trepidation, nervousness, *butterflies, *the shakes, *cold feet, creeps, *chills, *cold sweat, *sweating bullets, awe, uneasiness, dismay, jitters, horror, cowardice, phobia, nightmare, *feeling of impending doom. ''Nature's warning signal to get busy.''—Henry Link. ''The soul's signal for rallying.''— Henry Ward Beecher. ''A slinking cat I find beneath the lilacs of my mind.''—Sophie Tunnel. see fearful, phobia

II

v.

be afraid of, dread, apprehend, shudder at the thought of, be scared, *sweat bullets over, *get the shakes over, *get cold feet, feel alarm, *break out in a cold sweat, have qualms, cower, have butterflies, *break out in goosebumps, get jitters.

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) I noun Great agitation and anxiety caused by the expectation or the realization of danger: affright, alarm, apprehension, dread, fearfulness, fright, funk, horror, panic, terror, trepidation. Slang: cold feet. Idiom: fear and trembling. See FEAR. II verb To be afraid of: dread. Idiom: have one's heart in one's mouth. See FEAR.